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SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 


BY 


GEO.  FEAXCIS  TRAIX. 

AUTHOR    OF  '•  YOUNG    AMERICA    ABROAD,"  "  TOUNG   AMERICA    IN    "WALL 

STREET,"   ETC.    ETC. 


NEW  YORK  : 
DERBY  &  JAOKSOl^,  119  NASSAU  STREET. 

1859. 


Entered   Recording  to  Act  of  CoiigreM,  in  the   year   1858,  by 

DERBY    &    JACKSON, 

In  the  Clerk'i  Office  b.    u-  Uaited  Statei  Diitrict  Court,  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


W.  H.  TiNsoN,  Stereotjper.  Gko.  RufWELL  &  Co.,  Printers. 


4?<7 


--i 


/  (i>  -^  ' 


CONTENTS, 


*  ■  • ' 


PAGB 

Every  Man  his  Own  Autocrat, v 

Review  of  Young  America  from  "  Illustrated  London  News," 

Nov.  20,  1858, .      X 

Sketch  of  the  Author  from  "New  York  Herald,"  1856,  .        .  xxv 

Speech  at  the  Anniversary  of  American  Independence,  in 
Melbourne,  Australia,  July  4th,  1853 — Massachusetts  and 
Young  America, 35 

Speech  of  Young  America  in  Response  to  "  The  Ladies,"  at  the 
American  Banquet,  in  Melbourne,  Australia,  July  4th, 
1854, 44 

Speech  in  Response  to  "Young  America"  at  the  Banquet  held 
in  Melbourne,  Australia,  in  Commemoration  of  the  4th  of 
July,  1855,        . 52 

Speech  at  the  Celebration  of  the  81st  Anniversary  of  American 
Independence,  at  a  Complimentary  Dinner  given  by  the 
American  Residents  to  the  Officers  of  the  U.  S.  War 
Frigate  "  Niagara,"  Liverpool,  4th  July,  1857,  .        .         .63 

Speech  at  a  Banquet  given  by  Messrs.  James  Baines  &  Co., 
Liverpool,  England,  in  1856,  in  Commemoration  of  dis- 
patching their  Packet  Ship  "Oliver  Lang"  to  New  Zea- 
land,   75 


Ul 


402424 


IV  CONTENTS. 

FAOB 

Speech  at  the  Dinner  given  by  General  John  S.  Tyler  at  the 
Parker  House,  Boston,  on  the  Anniversary  of  the  Birthday 
of  Daniel  Webster,  January  18,  1858,         .         .         .         .89 

Speech  in  Response  to  the  Sentiment  "  Young  America  and 
Old  England,"  delivered  at  the  Banquet  given  at  the  Lon- 
don Tavern  by  the  American  Residents,  in  honor  of  the 
82d  Anniversary  of  American  Independence,  London, 
July  4,  1858, 102 

Opinions  of  the  English  Press, 129 

Correspondence  between  the  Foreign  Affairs   Committee   of 

Sheffield,  England,  and  Mr.  George  F.  Train  of  America,     134 

Remarks  at  Mansfield,  Ohio,  Nov.  1858,  at  a  Public  Meeting 
to  meet  the  President  and  Directors,  and  agents  of  Foreign 
Capitalists  connected  with  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western 
Railway, 148 

Remarks  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  December,  1858,  to  the  Scholars 

of  the  High  School, 166 


EYERY  MAN  HIS  OWN  AUTOCRAT. 


"  Young  America  Abroad,"  thrown  off  while  ruij- 
ning  about  the  world  the  other  day,  was  written  on 
shipboard,  posted  at  the  way  stations,  and  found  its 
way  over  the  land,  during  the  author's  absence  in 
Europe,  under  the  editorship  of  the  late  Freeman 
Hunt,  of  the  Merchant's  Magazine. 

Messrs.  Sampson,  Low  &  Co.,  published  the 
book  in  London,  and  English  reviewers  said  a  thou- 
sand kind  words.  Read  the  Times,  the  Morning 
Post,  the  Daily  News,  the  Morning  Advertiser,  the 
Globe,  and  the  Morning  Chronicle. 

Look  over  the  pages  of  the  Economist,  the  Athe- 
naeum, the  Literary  Gazette,  the  Examiner,  and  the 
Saturday  Review. 

The  leading  Journals  and  Reviews  introduced  it 
to  the  Clubs,  the  Libraries,  and  such  letters  of  ac- 
quaintance command  attention,  for  the  hospitality 
of  Englishmen  is  proverbial. 

The  Duke  of  Devonshire,  Lord  John  Russell,  Lord 


VI  EVERT  MAN  HIS   OWN  AUTOCEAT. 

Burj,  Sir  Charles  Napier,  and  Millard  Gibson  wrote 
me  the  kindest  of  notes. 

Sheridan  Knowles,  Delane,  Grattan,  Bancroft, 
Hawthorne,  Lucas,  Layard,  Dallas,  Mackaj,  did 
the  same. 

Even  dignified  bankers  certified  that  it  was  not  a 
crime  for  a  merchant  to  write  a  book.  Kennard, 
Milliken,  Gilbart,  Cargill,  Bates,  Larnock,  Bell, 
Marshall,  Elsej,  Mozlej,  McCalmont,  Sturgis,  Ha- 
milton, Morgan,  all  wrote  notes  of  encouragement. 
'Tis  pleasant  to  have  the  solid  men  of  England  wish 
you  well. 

The  book  was  a  hit.  Literary  men,  commercial 
men,  financial  men,  political  men,  gave  me  a  warm 
shake  of  the  hand. 

Noland  quotes  pages  in  his  Authenticated  His- 
tory of  the  Indian  Empire. 

I  attribute  its  success  to  the  fact  of  my  not  beino- 
a  literary  man— not  a  poet — and  to  my  having  fol- 
lowed Washington's  course  about  that  cherry 
tree. 

"  Young  America  in  Wall  Street,"  came  out  last 
year  during  the  panic,  and  was  abused  and  praised. 
•  Some  liked  it — others  didn't.  I  observe  that  is 
the  way  with  the  world.  Up,  down— right,  left — 
hot,  cold — ^high,  low — ^rich,  poor — abuse  a  man,  then 
praise  bim.     Markets    inflated,   depressed— good, 


EVERY  MAN  HIS   OWN  AUTOCRAT.  XU 

bad.     Odd  and  even  is  natural  law.     Prosperity— 
then  advereitj. 

This  rule  applies  to  books. 

The  public  can  commend,  censure,  or  take  no 
notice.  I  am  equal  to  the  former  two;  but  the 
third  proposition  touches  the  feelings  of  a  sensitive 
man. 

The  Evening  Post -said  I  had  no  brains  to  write  a 
book  in  ten  days — so  I  made  this  in  five ! 

The  l^Tew  York  Times  called  it — trash. 

The  Herald — a  work  of  decided  merit. 

The  Tribune  made  faces  at  it ;  and  some  hun- 
dred other  journals  did  me  the  distinguished  honor 
of  giving  it  a  lift  or  a  kick,  as  the  editors  happened 
to  feel,  thereby  showing  a  good  deal  of  human  na- 
ture in  mankind. 

England  said  it  was  a  Book  of  Telegrams. 

Russia  complimented  me  through  Baron  Bruno — 
and  I  am  under  warm  obligations  for  receiving  the 
courteous  invitation  from  the  Grand  Duke  Constan- 
tine  to  pass  the  winter  at  St.  Petersburg. 

The  Illustrated  London  ]^ews  gives  me  a  column 
and  a  half  on  Young  America.  The  editor  thinks 
I  shall  make  no  more  books.  Perhaps  I  should 
have  followed  his  suggestion,  had  he  not  furnished 
me  with  a  title  for  another :  "  Spread-Eagleism." 

Living  in  Australia,  in  England,  in  America,  I 


Vlll  EVEEY  MAN  HIS   OWN  AUTOCEAT. 

have   always  remembered   our  national    anniver- 
sary. 

Bennett  published  my  first  speech  at  Melbourne, 
in  1853 — afterwards  my  Letters  from  Asia,  Africa, 
Europe,  under  Young  America,  where  I  anticipat- 
ed what  has  taken  place  in  China,  Japan,  India — 
and  in  letters  from  Paris,  Kome,  and  Vienna,  to 
Hunt's  Merchant's  Magazine,  in  1857,  I  foresha- 
dowed the  commercial  panic  of  last  year. 

Spread-Eagleism  is  an  Institution. 

Young  America  is  a  nation,  and  signifies  pro- 
gress. 

Young  America  don't  mean  sucking  babies  alone 
— nor  school-boys — nor  fast  yoang  men.  Of  course 
not.  It  takes  the  country — the  whole  country,  and 
nothing  but  the  country.  Every  man,  woman  and 
child,  old  and  young — every  individual  born  since 
the  nation's  birth-day,  is  a  Young  American.  It  is 
Young  America  as  an  amiable  rival  to  Old  Eu- 
rope. Gambling,  swearing,  drinking,  smoking, 
chewing,  are  not  his  traits  of  character.  The  real 
Young  America  does  nothing  of  the  kind. 

Young  America  is  the  vanguard  of  change — the 
coming  age.     His  watchword  is  Reform. 

He  loves  Truth — Manhood— God, 

He  despises  Humbug— Exaggeration — Hypo- 
crisy. 


EVERY   MAN  HIS   OWN  AUTOCEAT.  IX 

Being  true  to  himself,  he  can't  be  false  to  his 
neighbor.  We  cannot  fasten  an  ism  on  him  (ex- 
cept Spread-Eagleism). 

He  likes  all  the  States,  and  is  of  opinion  that 
there  are  more  great  men  in  the  country  than  ever 
before.  Time  and  circumstances  will  bring  them 
out.  Circumstances  make  men — but  man  controls 
the  circumstance. 

Great  events  are  hovering  over  our  destinies. 

The  President  foreshadows  action. 

Young  America  will  be  wanted. 

The  times  are  changing. 

These  speeches  have  been  the  rounds.  I  rather 
like  them,  so  I  publish. 

The  fact  is,  if  a  man  don't  have  a  good  opinion  of 
himself,  who  will  care  for  him  ? 

I  know  of  no  one  better  pleased  with  number  one 
than  I.  I  have  partially  recovered  from  my  consti- 
tutional  diffidence  and  want  of  confidence. 

This  is  my  theory : 

As  there  are  so  many  young  men  in  the  world 
who  don't  like  to  go  over  and  around  it ;  who  don't 
like  to  know  the  languages,  make  books,  and  be  in 
the  newspapers  I  say,  as  there  are  so  many  of 
these  modest,  unassuming  men,  who  are  not  ambi- 
tious, I  maintain  there  is  no  harm  to  mankind,  no 

1* 


X      '  EVEKY  MAN  HIS   OWN   AUTOCRAT. 

moral  wrong  committed,  in  having  one  superlative 
exception. 

Ever  since  I  discovered  that  there  were  a  few 
stock  morals,  stock  jokes,  stock  ideas,  stock  heroes, 
stock  compliments,  stock  slanders,  stock  creeds, 
stock  conventionalities  in  the  world — 

Ever  since  I  learned.  tTiat  Caesar  was  less  than 
six  feet  high  instead  of  six  thousand,  I  have  applied 
the  same  measurement  to  other  shining  lights  in 
barbarous  eras,  and  find  that  no  older  fogies  ever 
lived  than  those  born  before  the  age  of  printing. 

Our  age  is  the  age. 

Those  men  walked — we  take  the  railway.  Their 
dispatches  weot  by  horse  power — ours  by  elec- 
tricity. 

The  world  is  liberalizing. 

Even  Pandemonium  has  got  a  new  and  revised 
constitution. 

The  fires  are  not  so  hot  as  under  the  old  Calvinis- 
tic  regime. 

Young  America  observes  that  nature's  features 
are  regular.  He  likes  joy,  gladness,  bright  colors ; 
growling,  ill-nature,  scowls  he  detests.  Flowers, 
clouds,  land  and  water  have  a  thousand  hues;  the 
Creator  did  not  dress  this  world  in  drab. 

Young  America  believes  in  a  good  hearty  laugh. 
Laughter  is  the  only  distinguishable  mark  from  the 


EVEET   M.AJS  HIS   OWN   AUTOCKAT.  XI 

brute — animals  never  smile..  Only 'three  cords 
'  draw  down  the  face,  but  as- many  dozen  take  it  up. 
Young  America  notices  that  his  friends  can  never 
discover  that  he  has  any  brains,  but  that  his  ene- 
mies by  sneering,  barking,  depreciating,  opposing 
him,  prove  it  beyond  a  doubt. 

Observing  this,  Young  America  having  already 
too  many  friends,  does  not  give  up  all  hopes  of 
making  a  few  enemies,  by  way  of  resistance,  like 
water  against  the  oars. 

By  the  by,  did  you  never  notice  that  a  man  always 
has  plenty  of  friends  when  he  does  not  particularly 
require  their  kind  services  ? 

Some  think  me  too  fast,  others  too  slow ;  some 
say,  modulate  your  voice  more — gesticulate  less — 
don't  get  so  excited.  Each  gives  advice,  but  all 
cheer. 

Young  America  fears  that  we  have  too  much 
theology  and  not  enough  of  religion.  Keep  a  board 
of  bishops  or  a  convention  of  clergymen  waiting  four 
hours  for  their  dinner,  and  you  will  be  astonished 
to  see  how  that  trifling  delay  will  scatter  their 
Christian  precepts. 

Gibbon  says,  "The  past  is  no  more — the  present 
a  fleeting  show — and  the  future  dark  and  ob- 
scure." 

Young  America    don't  agree   with  him.      He 


Xll  EVEET  MAN  HIS   OWN   ATJTOCEAT. 

owns  the  past,  uses  the  present,  and  discounts  the 
fature.  He  dives  deeper,  swims  longer,  and  comes 
np  drier.  He  thinks  quicker,  accomplishes  more, 
and  lives  faster  than  any  other  party. 

Owing  to  the  number  of  distinguished  foreigners 
who  are  residents  in  our  land,  he  has  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  his  country  possesses  some  two- 
thirds  the  entire  common  sense ;  three-fourths  the 
active  enterprise,  and  seven-eighths  the  beauty  of 
the  world  !  Egypt  gave  Industry,  Greece  Liberty, 
Kome  Law,  France  Art,  England  Commerce, 
leaving  America  to  combine  the  whole  and  repre- 
sent the  Progressive  idea. 

Humanity  was  a  puling  babe  in  Asia — a  school- 
boy in  Europe- — and  has  come  to  America  to  pass 
its  manhood. 

Item — ^Young  America  believes  that  the  pre- 
sent administration  was  necessary  to  cut  off  the 
chances  of  any  man  for  the  presidency,  over  fifty 
years  of  age.  The  Young  American  ladies  will 
never  permit  another  bachelor  to  enter  the  White 
House !  a  voice  from  posterity  has  alarmed  them 
by  saying  that  the  world  would  stop  at  the  close  of 
the  century  on  that  plan ! 

Orators  intending  to  hand  their  speeches  to  the 
reporters  at  the  end  of  their  performances  usually 
mark  where  the  applause  comes  in.     I  have  made 


EVEKY  MAN  HIS   OWN  AUTOCRAT.  Xlll 

bold  to  follow  their  illustrious  example.  This  is 
done  in  pure  kindness  to -the  general  reader  to  as- 
sist him  in  finding  the  points. 

Some  critics  compliment  me  by  calling  these 
speeches  "  Gas " — thereby  insinuating  that  they 
are  both  luminous  and  exhilarating ! 

The  Turkish  word  "  Bosb "  used  in  England 
— when  applied  to  my  theories — signifies  talent ! 

Toung  America  having  covered  all  nations  in 
his  travels,  never  feels  flattered  when  any  one  says 
that  he  has  been  from  Dan  to  Beersheba — having 
stood  on  Dan  and  fired  a  stone  over  Beersheba. 
It  occurs  to  him  that  it  would  be  well  to  find  some 
better  simile  for  a  man  who  has  wandered  some 
one  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  miles. 

Marco  Polo  got  to  China  and  back.  Kobin- 
son  Crusoe  was  born  in  the  imagination  of  Defoe. 
Peter  Parley  saw  Paris.  I  have  seen  more  than 
all  those  good  people. 

Young  America  likes  old  England,  and  has  ob- 
served that  an  Englishman  thinks  the  more  of  you 
if  you  disagree  with  him — ^Young  America's  plat- 
form is  in  a  word — 

First — ^The  eternal  Union  of  the  States.      Second 
— Everlasting  peace  and  friendship  with  England. 
Third — Free  trade  in  commerce,  finance,  and  litera 
ture.     Fourth — The  moral  growth  of  spread-ea^le 


XIV  EVERY   MAN   HIS    OWN   ATTTOCEAT. 

ism,  whicli  is  only  a  modern  word  for  the  Monroe 
doctrine. 

Item — Said  Lord  John  Russell  to  Mr.  Hume,  at 
a  social  dinner:  "What  do  you  consider  the  ob- 
ject of  legislation  ?" 

"  The  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number,"  re- 
sponded Mr.  Hume. 

"  "What  do  you  call  the  greatest  number  ?"  con- 
tinued his  lordship. 

^^  Number  one,  my  lord,"  was  the  Commoner's 
prompt  reply. 

This  book  was  published  on  same  principles.  If 
the  matter  is  too  heavy,  I  propose  to  give  something 
lighter  in  the  work  which  I  am  preparing  in  Eng- 
land, entitled  "  Young  America  on  the  Railways 
of  the  World." 

Washington,  January  Isf,  1869. 


EVERY  MAN  HIS   OWN  ArXOCRAT.  XV 


"YOUNG     AMEKICA." 

(From  the  Illustrated  London  News.) 

Under  the  titles  of  "Young  America  in  "Wall 
Street,"  and  "Young  America  Abroad,"  Mr.  George 
Francis  Train,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  late  of  Mel- 
bourne, Australia,  now  of  London  and  Liverpool — 
and  perhaps  of  Nishni-iN'ovogorod,  and,  for  all  we 
know,  of  Kamtschatka — has  issued  two  volumes  of 
somewhat  remarkable  character,  racy  and  idiomatic, 
which  none  but  an  American  of  "  clear  grit "  could 
have  written.  Young  America,  and,  as  far  as  we 
know,  Old  America — if  under  the  latter  designation 
are  to  be  classed  men  of  the  mature  ages  of  fortj, 
fifty,  and  sixty — is  somewhat  more  rash,  reckless,  im- 
pulsive, and,  to  use  the  true  American  epithet,  "  go- 
a-head-a-tive  "  than  either  Young  or  Old  England  • 
but  Mr.  Train  in  this  respect  does  not  claim  or  wish 
to  be  considered  a  fair  representative  of  his  coun- 
trymen. When  the  present  or  the  future  greatness 
and  power  of  America  are  under  consideration ; 
when  it  is  a  question  of  "  licking  all  creation,"  be- 
ginning with  Mexico,  l!^icaragua,  and  Spain,  and 
ending  with  Great  Britain,  Mr.  Train,  crowing, 
cawing,  or  shrieking  on  behalf  of  the  American 


XVI  EVERY   MAN   HIS   OWN   AUTOCRAT. 

eagle  (a  female  bird,  considering  the  eggs  she  lays 
on  either  side  of  the  Eocky  Mountains),  can  make 
as  lusty  a  clamor  as  tlie  most  rabid  stump-orator 
between  Yermont  and  Arkansas.  But,  when  it  is 
a  question  of  commercial  enterprise  and  speculation, 
he  is  as  sensible,  as  respectable,  and  as  full  of 
worldly  wisdom,  as  a  Rothschild,  a  Baring,  or  any 
greyheaded  father  of  the  Exchange.  On  questions 
of  banking  and  currency,  and  the  legitimate  opera- 
tions of  commerce,  he  enunciates  his  maxims  like 
an  old  fogy  who  knows  all  the  ins  and  outs  of  trade, 
and  can  pay  sixty  shillings  in  the  pound.  'No  fine- 
spun and  high-sounding  theories,  come  whence 
they  will,  and  promulgated  under  any  weight  of 
authority  whatsoever,  can  influence  his  sober  judg- 
ment, or  blind  his  eyes  to  the  fact,  which  so  many 
men  who  ought  to  know  better  absolutely  refuse  to 
see,  that  trade  and  gambling  are  two  different  and 
irreconcilable  things,  and  that  people  who  are  over 
anxious  to  grow  suddenly  rich  very  often  march  on 
the  highway  to  sudden,  but  not  solitary,  ruin.  This 
is  the  characteristic  of  Mr.  Train's  first  volume, 
published  originally  at  New  York  in  the  heat  of 
the  panic  of  last  winter,  and  since  reproduced  in 
England.  If,  in  addition  to  his  genius  for  statistics 
and  his  wonderful  memory  for  facts,  Mr.  Train  had 
literary  ability  and  experience  equal  to  the  know- 


EVERY   MAN   HIS   OWN  AUTOCEAT.  XVll 

ledge  which  he  has  gained  by  the  acute  and  dili- 
gent study  of  men,  he  might  rise  to  considerable 
distinction  in  literature  as  a  writer  on  economic 
and  commercial  subjects.  At  present  his  style  is 
not  only  redundant  but  harsh,  and  betrays  in  every 
page  how  much  better  he  can  think  than  write,  and 
how  much  polish  the  diamond  still  requires  before 
ordinary  eyes  can  recognize  it  to  be  a  diamond  at 
all.  "  Young  America  Abroad  "  is  a  more  attrac- 
tive volume  than  "Young  America  in  "Wall  Street," 
and  the  train — a  very  fast  one — carries  the  re'ader 
by  "  express  "  all  over  and  all  around  the  world, 
till  we  toil  and  pant  after  him  in  vain,  and  shut  the 
book  for  want  of  breath  to  be  whirled  along  so 
rapidly.  Familiar  with  his  own  country  and  his 
own  countrymen,  he  would  make  it  apparent  that 
he  is  equally  familiar  with  England,  France,  Ger- 
many, Italy,  and  Russia ;  that  he  knows  all  about 
Australia — its  resources  and  its  characteristics ;  and 
that  he  is  equally  at  home  in  matters  relating  to 
Java,  Japan,  and  China.  He  is  hand-in-glove  with 
Russian  Grand  Dukes ;  on  friendly  terms  with 
Ambassadors  and  Plenipotentiaries ;  knows  Kings 
and  Emperors,  and,  with  Yankee  independence — or, 
as  we  might  say,  "  brass  " — thinks  an  American 
citizen  as  good  as,  or  better  than,  the  best  of  them. 
His  modesty  never  stands  in  his  way  or  operates  in 


XVIU  EVERY   MAN   HIS   OWN   AUTOCRAT. 

the  slightest  degree  to  his  detriment;  and  his  im- 
pudence— if  the  word  be  not  too  harsh  for  a  degree 
of  conceit  and  self-assertion  which  is  linked  with  a 
great  deal  of  good  feeling  and  good  fellowship — 
never  degenerates  into  repulsiveness.  Mr.  Train, 
in  fact,  may  be  looked  npon  as  a  not  unfavorable 
representative  of  what  the  Americans  have  them- 
selves designated  "  spread-eagleism."  At  a  "  spread 
eagle "  speech  he  has  few  superiors,  and  brings 
down  by  the  vehemence  of  his  manner  and  the 
evident  sincerity  of  his  convictions  the  applauses 
of  auditors  who  in  cooler  moments  would  pronounce 
his  speeches  to  be,  in  American  parlance,  gas,  or, 
in  vulgar  English,  bosh.  To  overawe  the  world 
and  to  patronize  Great  Britain,  and  if  the  said 
Great  Britain  do  not  behave  herself  before  her  lusty 
and  saucy  progeny,  to  "give  her  a  licking" — such 
is  the  wish  of  "  Young  America."  Nothing  would 
please  spread-eagleism  so  much  as  a  general  alli- 
ance of  all  the  States  of  Europe  against  England, 
that  America  might  have  the  opportunity  of  step- 
ping in  to  the  rescue,  and  saving  the  little  island 
from  the  assaults  of  all  opponents.  Evidently  such 
a  result  of  European  politics  would  be  entirely  to 
the  taste  of  Mr.  Train.    Hear  what  he  says  : 


EVEEY  MAN  HIS   OWN   AUTOCEAT.  XIX 

"  THE   TIMES   ARE   CHANGING. 

"  Americans  must  spring  to  the  rescue  of  the 
Saxon  power. 

"  England  has  done  more  for  relfgious  freedom 
and  civil  liberty  than  all  the  world  beside. 

"  I  speak  with  the  book,  and  know  well  what  I 
say.  America  has  followed  England  abroad  and 
copied  her  at  home.  Englishmen  should  praise 
rather  than  censure  our  nationality ;  for  where  is 
there  a  people  so  wrapt  up  in  their  national  glory 
as  the  English  ? 

"  A  little  more  reflection  would  convince  an  Eng- 
lishman that  America  must  ever  be  the  friend  of 
England.  Natural  ties  are  stronger  than  artificial 
alliances.  Americans  are  worthy  of  better  treat- 
ment, of  more  respect,  of  broader  sentiments,  than 
Englishmen  are  disposed  to  give  them.  They  insist 
upon  judging  us  by  the  standard  of  the  "almighty 
dollar."     "We  have  been  treated  badly  by  England. 

"The  whole  story  can  be  written  on  a  single 
page. 

"  "We  commenced  our  career  a  shivering  band  of 
pilgrims,  at  Plymouth. 

"  Our  house  was  built  upon  a  rock. 

"  "We  worked — we  toiled — we  spun.  God  and 
the  right  went  up  with  our  morning  and  evening 


XX  EVERY   MAN    HIS   OWN   AUTOCRAT. 

prayer.     By  honesty  and  industry  we  built  up  a 
progressive  colony. 

"A  free  church,  a  clear  conscience,  and  just  laws 
were  the  daily  watchwords  of  the  banished  pio- 
neers. Amidst  storm  and  tempest — the  bear  and 
the  Indian — we  increased  in  numbers  and  in  wealth, 
and  worked  hard  for  that  old  mother  land  whose 
arbitrary  laws  had  driven  us  from  her  shores. 

"  "We  paid  the  taxes  generation  after  generation. 
We  paid  the  taxes — for  over  a  century  and  a  half 
we  paid  them — and  fought  the  battles  of  England. 
Years  passed  on.  George  III.  wanted  more  money 
— we  paid.  More  still — we  paid  that  also.  Year 
after  year  we  paid  away  our  hard-earned  gains 
without  complaint.  Then  tyrannical  governors 
came  among  us.  The  Pilgrim  band  had  become 
the  germ  of  a  great  nation.  More  taxes  were 
wanted  for  a  Continental  war.  Out  came  the  Stamp 
Act,  the  Boston  Port  Bill; — and  overboard  went 
the  tea — up  went  the  flag ;  and  then  came  Declara- 
tion of  Independence — ^battles — victory  ! 

"'There  is  Concord,  and  Lexington,  and  Bunker 
Hill,'  said  Webster  to  Hayne,  '  and  there  they  will 
remain  forever,  to  prove  to  the  civilized  world  the 
justness  of  our  cause.' 

"  England  admits  that  she  was  wrong,  that  Ame- 


r 


ica  was  right 


to' 


EVERY  TVTAN   HIS   OWN  AUT(X!RAT.  XXI 

" '  Onward  and  upward,  straight  on,'  we  con- 
tinued our  destiny.  Washington  lived  and  died, 
bequeathing  the  purest  name  in  history  to  a  grate- 
ful nation.  Adams,  Madison,  Jefferson  followed, 
when,  waging  war  with  Bonaparte,  England  again 
insulted  us.  Our  sailors  were  ourselves ;  touch 
them  you  arouse  us.  The  American  citizen,  on 
land  or  on  the  ocean,  must  and  will  be  respected. 
Again  we  were  victorious. 

"  England  admits  that  she  was  wrong,  that  Ame- 
rica was  right. 

"Then  came  an  age  of  peace.  England  sneers 
at  our  progress  one  day,  and  the  next  pats  us  on  the 
shoulder,  calling  us  a  saucy  little  boy.  English 
writers  visit  our  land,  but  only  return  to  exagger- 
ate our  faults  and  forget  our  virtues. 

" '  Who  reads  an  American  book  V  said  Sydney 
Smith. 

"  Marryat  came  to  the  United  States  in  the  midst 
of  the  panic  of  1837,  to  sneer  at  everything  he 
saw. 

"  '  Who  fattens  on  the  curse  of  slavery  V  said 
Dickens  ;  and  then  there  was  a  distinguished  lady- 
writer  came  TroUop-ing  through  the  land. 

"  The  Ashburton  Treaty  was  not  a  generation  old 
when  it  was  broken,  but  not  by  us.  Our  laws  were 
infringed.    Enlistment  of  soldiers  in  America  for 


XXii  EVEKY   MAN   HIS   OWN    AUTOCRAT. 

the  Crimean  war  would  have  offended  Eussia,  with 
whom  we  have  never  had  an  ill-tempered  diploma- 
tic note.  We  protested,  but  without  effect.  Back 
went  the  British  minister.  England  sent  regiments 
to  Canada,  and  a  war-fleet  to  the  Bermudas.  Cla- 
rendon stormed  ;  Marcy  responded,  with  dignity 
and  with  eloquence.  The  American  minister  un- 
packed his  trunks,  and  still  remains  in  England. 

"  England  still  admits  that  we  were  right,  that 
she  was  wrong. 

"  England  should  not  forget,  when  shuddering 
over  the  atrocity  of  the  Sepoys,  that  she  herself,  in 
days  gone  by,  has  offered  rewards  to  the  Korth 
American  savage  for  the  '  scalps  of  Americans 
wherever  they  may  be  found.'  Kemember  Chat- 
ham's eloquent  denunciation. 

"  I  have  merely  run  my  eye  along  our  national 
history  to  show  that  America  has  not  been  well 
treated  by  England.  What  are  Americans,  after 
all,  but  Englishmen  left  to  themselves  ? 

"  With  all  this  bitter  remembrance  we  are  wil- 
ling to  forget  and  forgive.  We  are  fond  of  the  old 
land  yet — with  all  her  faults  we  love  her  still. 

"  England  will  shortly  need  our  help.  The  times 
are  changing.  Our  moral  sympathy  alone  may 
prevent  the  encroachment  of  Europe.  India  hangs 
by  a  thread — America  can  secure  the  Saxon  flag 


EVEET   MAN   HIS    OWN   AUTOCRAT.  XXIU 

there  for  another  hundred  years.  Americans*are 
Americans  at  home — but  they  are  Saxons  abroad. 

"  Let  England's  noble  Queen  come  over  to  Ame- 
rica, and  she  shall  have  a  welcome  such  as  no  his- 
torian has  ever  recorded.  A  sovereign  people  know 
how  to  welcome  a  sovereign  Queen. 

"  We  never  liked  the  Georges.  Landor  con- 
denses Thackerav's  lectures  into  a  thimble : 

*'  George  the  First  was  reckoned  vile  ; 
Viler,  George  the  Second. 
And  what  mortal  ever  heard 
Any  good  of  George  the  Third  ? 
When  from  earth  the  Fourth  ascended, 
God  be  praised  the  Georges  ended !" 

"  "We  never  liked  the  Georges ;  but  there  is  not 
an  American  in  the  land  that  does  not  respect  Yic- 
toria — the  daughter,  the  wife,  the  mother,  and  the 
Queen — the  noblest  woman  in  our  Fatherland !  ^  '' 

"  Let  the  Queen  of  England  visit  America !  'Twill 
heal  an  age  of  irritation;  and  then  one  hundred 
thousand  able-bodied  soldiers  will  land  in  India  and 
in  China  to  introduce,  with  cannon,  the  locomotive, 
the  steamboat,  and  all  the  implements  of  the  Sax- 
on's power  to  the  Asiatic  race. 

"  THE  TIMES   AKE  CHANGING." 


XXiv  EVERT   MAN    HIS    OWN    ATTTOCRAT. 

Englishmen  are  very  ranch  obliged  for  the  good 
feeling  which  dictates  the  offer  of  men  from  Ame- 
rica to  help  them  to  reconquer  India ;  but  English- 
men have  made  up  their  minds  to  do  without  it. 
As  yet,  at  all  events,  they  can  fight  their  own  bat- 
tles, and  want  no  more  assistance  in  India  than 
Brother  Jonathan  does  in  Mexico. 

We  doubt  whether  we  shall  hear  much  more  of 
Mr.  Train  as  a  maker  of  books.  He  has,  we  be- 
lieve, a  better  business  to  attend  to,  and  one  for 
which  nature  has-  more  eminently  qualified  him. 
As  a  maker  of  speeches,  and  a  steady,  active  man 
of  business,  long  may  he  flourish  I 


EVERY  MAN  HIS   OWN  AUTOCEAT.  XXV 

rOUNG  AMERICA  IN  AUSTRALIA. 

(From  the  New  York  Herald,  1856.) 
GEORGE    FRANCIS     TRAIN. 

"We  have  selected  the  subject  of  our  present 
sketch,  as  a  most  creditable  representative  of  the 
Young  American  merchant — of  that  Young  Ame- 
rica which  pours  its  energies  through  all  the  chan- 
nels of  commerce  in  all  quarters  of  the  globe — 
which,  at  home  or  abroad,  upholds  the  high  cha- 
racter of  its  country — which  is  ready  to  plant 
itself  wherever  great  achievements  await  it, 
whether  amid  the  firs  of  the  northwest,  or  on  the 
quays  of  the  seaboard ;  now  ploughing  the  Arctic 
ices  or  searching  for  new  points  of  development 
under  the  equator ;  now  carrying  our  flag  and  in- 
stitutions, to  erect  them  on  the  yellow  rocks  of 
California  :  or,  as  if  nOt  finding  room  enough  within 
our  own  boundless  domain,  aiding  to  establish  a 
new  port,  build  a  new  city  and  create  a  new  com- 
merce on  the  golden  soil  of  Australia. 

George  F.  Train  was  the  oldest  son  of  Oliver 
Train,  who,  for  many  years  prior  to  his  decease, 
was  a  successful  merchant  in  the  city  of  Boston, 
where  his  son  George  was  born.  In  the  year  1831, 
or  '32,  Oliver  Train  removed,  with  his  family,  con- 


XXVI  EVERY   MAN   HIS   OWN  AUTOCKAT. 

sisting  of  his  wife  and  three  children,  from  Boston 
to  the  city  of  New  Orleans. 

During  the  :ffrst  year  of  his  residence  at  the 
South,  the  ySlow  fever  prevailed  in  its  most  aggra- 
vated form,  and  among  its  victims  the  entire  family 
of  Oliver  Train  was  numbered,  with  the  isolated 
exception  of  the  subject  of  this  notice.  After  Mr. 
Train  had  buried  the  whole  of  his  family  but 
iGreorge,  and  a  short  time  before  his  own  death,  in 
the  hope  of  saving  his  only  remaining  child  from  a 
similar  fate,  he  committed  him  to  the  care  of  a  cap- 
tain of  a  sailing  vessel  bound  to  Boston  from  the 
port  of  New  Orleans,  to  be  restored  to  the  surviving 
relatives  of  his  deceased  mother.  Thus,  at  the 
tender  age  of  four  years,  bereft  of  father,  mother, 
brother  and  sister,  this  friendless  child  in  a  strange 
land  commenced  the  voyage  of  life  alone.  Though 
too  young,  perhaps,  to  be  much  influenced  in  cha- 
racter by  the  unpropitious  and  forlorn  circum- 
stances in  which  his  career  began,  yet  his  subse- 
sequent  life,  successful  in  an  eminent  degree,  and 
unmindful  of  difficulties,  which,  however  formid- 
able to  others,  serve  but  to  stimulate  him  to  con- 
quer them,  seems  to  give  evidence  that  the  severe 
training  of  his  childhood  had  given  him  strength, 
hardihood  and  resolution. 

Arriving  in  safety  at  the  city  of  his  birth,  after  a 


EVEET  MAN  HIS   OWN  ATJTOCEAT.  XXVll 

protracted  voyage  of  many  weeks,  he  was  com- 
mitted to  the  care  of  his  grandmother  on  the  ma- 
ternal side,  who  then  resided  and  still  resides  at 
"Waltham,  Massachusetts,  and  by  whom  he  was 
reared  with  a  tenderness  and  watchfulness  that 
could  only  be  looked  for  from  the  mother  that  gave 
him  birth.  This  venerable  woman,  who  still  sur- 
vives to  witness  the  success  of  her  proteg^,  gave 
him  the  advantages  of  all  the  education  which  at 
that  day  was  to  be  acquired  in  a  New  England 
town.  Remaining  with  his  grandmother  until 
fifteen  years  of  age,  he  grew  restless  under  the 
state  of  dependency  he  felt  himself  to  be  in,  and 
determined  thenceforth  to  achieve  his  own  success. 
He  went  to  Cambridgeport,  in  his  native  State, 
where  he  soon  obtained  a  situation  as  clerk.  There 
he  remained  nearly  two  years,  when,  concluding 
that  Cambridgeport  did  not  present  a  sufficient 
field  of  enterprise  for  his  growing  aspirations,  he 
set  out  for  Boston.  His  desire  was  soon  gratified 
in  obtaining  a  clerkship  in  the  counting-house  of 
Enoch  Train  &  Co.,  the  eminent  shipping  house  of 
Boston.  The  position  he  rapidly  attained  there  is 
best  told  by  the  fact  that  at  the  age  of  twenty-one 
he  was  sent  by  Col.  Train  to  Liverpool  to  take 
charge  of  his  branch  house  in  that  city,  and  which 


XXVlll  EVERY  MAN  HIS   OWN  AUTOCEAT. 

Young  Traill  managed  with  consummate  ability  for 
a  year.  On  his  return,  he  assumed  his  old  position 
in  the  Boston  house,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-three 
was  assigned  an  interest  in  its  business,  where  he 
remained  till  February,  1853. 

In  October,  1851,  Mr.  Train  was  married,  at  the 
West,  to  the  eldest  daughter  of  Col.  George  T.  M. 
Davis,  and  in  February,  1853,  they  embarked  for 
Melbourne,  Australia — he  with  the  view  of  estab- 
lishing the  house  of  Caldwell,  Train  &  Co.  In 
1854,  he  purchased  the  interest  of  Mr.  Caldwell, 
and  the  firm  was  changed  to  that  of  George  F. 
Train  &  Co. 

Of  the  many  American  houses  that  were  estab- 
lished in  Melbourne  during  the  gold  fever  of  1853, 
that  of  George  F.  Train  &  Co.  was  marked  with 
distinguished  success. 

"When  the  celebrated  White  Star  Line  of  clipper 
ships  was  established  by  Messrs.  Pilkington  &  Wil- 
son, of  Liverpool,  they  selected  the  house  of  George 
F.  Train  &  Co.  as  their  agents  at  Melbourne,  and 
to  which  their  vessels  are  still  cons'gued.  The 
commercial  connections  of  this  house  embrace 
many  of  the  most  eminent  names  throughout 
Europe.  Its  success  may  be  said  to  have  been 
almost  without  a  parallel,  especially  when  it   is 


EVERY  MAN  HIS   OWN   AUTOCRAT.  XXIX 

remembered  that  its  founder  and  principal  man- 
ager is  but  just  entering  on  his  twenty-sixth 
year.* 

Undoubtedly,  Mr.  Train  is  largely  indebted  for 
his  success  to  the  admirable  mercantile  education 
he  received  in  the  house  of  his  uncle.  The  Boston 
Post,  in  copying  an  article  from  the  Melbourne 
Age,  on  "  American  Enterprise,"  introduced  it 
with  the  following  remarks  : 

"  It  is  with  pride  and  pleasure  we  copy  the  fol- 
lowing evidence  of  the  intelligent  enterprise  and 
merited  success  of  a  young  Boston  merchant  on 
the  other  side  of  the  world.  Mr.  Train  is  a  gradu- 
ate of  the  large  and  honorably  distinguished  house 
of  Train  &  Co.,  a  house  whose  senior  partner, 
Enoch  Train,  Esq.,  has  done  as  much  to  advance 
the  business  of  Boston,  improve  her  marine  archi- 
tecture, and  develop  all  those  elements  of  a  high 
and  useful  mercantile  character,  as  any  citizen 
whose  name  was  ever  recorded  in  a  Boston  direc- 
tory. Liberal,  sagacious,  decisive ;  those  who  have 
received  their  business  education  in  his  counting- 
house  have  had  a  high  example  before  them,  and 

*  Mr.  Train  left  Australia  in  1855,  and  the  firm  of  G.  F.  T.  & 
Co.  was  dissolved  by  limitation  in  185*7.  Should  any  of  his  old 
correspondents  visit  him  in  London  they  will  receive  a  most  cor- 
dial welcome.  G.  F.  T. 


XXX  EVERY  MAN   HIS   OWN   AUTOCKAT. 

those  who  have  been  capable  of  appreciating  it  and 
wise  enough  to  follow  it  like  the  gentleman  who 
now  excites  the  commendation  of  the  people  of 
another  nation,  have  reaped  rewards  but  rarely  at- 
tained." 

Notwithstanding  the  important  interests  upon  his 
hands  and  his  devotion  to  business,  Mr.  Train,  by 
some  miracle  of  industry,  has  found  time  for  exten- 
sive reading  and  scholastic  attainment,  and  perfect- 
ed his  pen  in  an  easy  and  graceful  style,  and  speak- 
ing as  if  elocution  had  been  one  of  the  chief  objects 
of  his  study.  To  these  qualities  we  may  add  the 
more  endearing  ones  of  strict  integrity,  great  moral 
worth,  and  habits  of  life  without  a  blemish. 
Throughout  the  colony,  and  amongst  all  classes,  he  is 
a  universal  favorite.  He  was  urged  by  the  mining 
interest  to  represent  them  in  the  colonial  Legisla- 
ture, but  his  consent  could  not  be  obtained.  The 
unanimity  with  which  this  nomination  was  tendered 
him  is  the  best  evidence  of  the  respect  and  confi- 
dence entertained  for  him  by  the  great  interest  of 
the  colony.  On  the  occasion  of  his  recent  depart- 
ure from  Melbourne,  the  prominent  merchants  and 
citizens  of  that  place  gave  him  the  testimonial  of  a 
public  dinner,  and  the  speeches  then  delivered  ex- 
hibited their  high  appreciation  of  his  qualities  and 
bearing  as  a  merchant  and  a  man,  and  of  his  inva- 


EVEET   MAN   HIS   OWN   AUTOCRAT.  XXXI 

luable  services  in  advancing  the  best  interests  of  the 
colony. 

After  a  residence  of  three  years  in  the  island-con- 
tinent of  the  South,  during  which  brief  time  he  has 
accomplislied  so  much,  Mr.  Train  resolved  to  visit 
his  native  land.  In  the  first  of  a  series  of  letters  to 
the  New  York  Herald,  now  in  progress,  he  says  : 

"  I  am  now  bound  to  Bata.via,  and  after  taking  a 
look  at  the  island  of  Java,  shall  proceed  to  Singa- 
pore, en  route  for  China  and  Manila,  and  I  shall  try 
and  give  you  a  page  or  two  from  Hong  Koug,  Can- 
ton, Shanghai,  and,  if  possible,  from  Japan  ;  after 
which  I  shall  visit  Penang,  Madras,  Calcutta,  and, 
if  time  permit,  pass  through  the  interior  of  Bengal 
to  Bombay  ;  then  down  to  Ceylon,  and  on  to  Aden, 
up  the  Red  Sea  to  Suez,  over  the  desert  to  Cairo 
and  Alexandria ;  thence  to  Constantinople,  Sebas- 
topol  and  the  Black  Sea  ports,  returning  by  the 
way  of  the  !N"orth  of  Europe,  France  and  England 
to  New  York,  which,  with  the  ground  I  have 
already  been  over,  ought  to  make  me  something  of 
a  traveller.  I  am  taking  the  tour  purely  for  infor- 
mation, and  to  get  a  little  practical  illustration  of 
my  theoretical  reading." 

His  subsequent  letters  from  Java  and  Malacca  are 
filled  with  graphic  descriptions,  and  important  com- 
mercial and  statistical  information,  not  elsewhere 


XXXll  EVEKY  MAN  HIS   OWN  AUTOCKAT. 

to  be  obtained.  We  hope,  when  Mr.  Train  reaches 
this  country,  that,  notwithstanding  the  success 
which  has  crowned  his  efforts  abroad,  he  will  con- 
clude no  longer  to  expatriate  himself.  Though 
proud  of  such  men  to  represent  us  abroad,  we  can- 
not afford  to  lose  their  services  at  home. 

We  have  spoken  of  Mr.  Train  as  an  exalted  type 
of  that  vigor,  energy,  and  daring  enterprise  that 
characterize  our  Young  America.  We  cannot  do 
better  than,  in  closing  this  article,  to  allow  him  to 
give  his  own  ideas  upon  this  subject,  by  extracting 
a  portion  of  his  speech  at  Melbourne,  on  the  Fourth 
of  July  last,  in  response  to  a  toast  given  to  "  G.  F. 
Train  and  Young  America."  After  tracing  the  de- 
scent of  Young  America  for  a  thousand  years,  in  a 
condensed,  but  eloquent  review,  he  exclaims :  >. 

"  But  if  the  retrospective  view  has  dazzled  us, 
how  much  more  astonishing  is  the  present.  When 
our  thirteen  little  States  are  rolling  on  towards 
forty  living  republics,  bound  together  as  one  nation ; 
when  our  three  millions  have  grown  to  thirty,  and 
'  driven  by  the  hand  of  God,'  to  quote  De  Tocque- 
ville,  '  are  peopling  the  western  wilderness  at  the 
average  rate  of  seventeen  miles  per  annum.' 
When  our  Lilliputian  commerce  has  whitened  every 
sea,  and  our  mother  tongue  has  worked  its  way  into 
every  land,  and  when  our  influence  and  our  pro-' 


EVEBT   MAN   HIS   OWN   AUTOCEAT.  XXXlll 

gress — ^like  the  ripple  in  the  mid  ocean — reaches 
from  shore  to  shore. 

"  Startle  not,  my  friends,  at  the  lightning  pace  of 
the  pilgrim's  steed.  He  is  sure  to  win  the  race — 
naught  stops  him  in  his  destiny — when  danger  lurks 
in  his  pathway,  he  turns  high  his  head  and  snorts  a 
proud  defiance  at  the  precipice  that  would  have 

ruined  him,  and  plunges  on  to  victory 

England  and  America  are  partners,  not  rivals.  The 
younger  nation  is  the  junior,  who  manages  the  west- 
ern branch  of  the  old  concern ;  youth  gives  activity, 
and  hence  the  young  man  opens  his  letters  before 
breakfast,  on  the  steps  of  the  post-oflBce,  whilst  the 
old  gentleman  prefers  breaking  the  seal  in  dressing- 
gown  and  slippers  after  dinner.  Young  America 
showed  the  same  feelings  of  independence  in  estab- 
lishing a  house  of  his  own,  that  every  young  man 
experiences  who  leaves  the  old  house  to  earn  an 
honest  livelihood  by  his  own  exertions. 

"  In  this  instance,  however,  the  connection  with 
the  old  concern  is  of  more  value  than  that  with  the 
balance  of  the  world.  The  revolution  was  merely 
an  animated  conversation,  where  shot  and  cannon 
were  introduced  to  give  emphasis  to  the  debate, 
and  when  the  disputed  'points' were  settled,  old 
England  rose  with  renewed  vigor,  in  Young  Ame- 
rica.   The  sources  of  discord  soon  began  to  dry,  and 

a* 


XXXIV  EVEKT  MAN   HIS   OWN  AUTOCEAT. 

now,  as  the  flower  turns  to  the  sun,  the  needle  to 
the  magnet,  the  child  to  its  mother,  as  the  twin 
brothers  of  Siam  receive  each  the  same  emotions, 
80  are  we  bound  by  speaking  the  same  language, 
and  worshipping  the  same  God,  to  remember  Eng- 
land, the  proud  old  mother  of  our  race, 

"  And  join  the  stars  and  stripes  and  cross  in  one  fraternal  band, 
Till  Anglo-Saxon  faith  and  laws  illumine  every  laud." 


I 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 


-•►- 


[Arriving  in  Melbourne  in  May,  1853,  and  seeing  American 
ships  and  American  merchants  hourly  entering  the  port,  I  inune- 
diately  took  measures  to  introduce  our  countrymen  to  the  Austra- 
lians, by  inviting  their  leading  men  to  a  banquet  on  the  4th  of  July, 
in  commemoration  of  the  anniversary  of  American  Independfence. 

Nothing  could  have  created  a  greater  storm  of  political  feeling. 

The  Argus  became  exceedingly  wroth,  and  asked  what  France 
would  say  if  a  party  of  Englishmen  gave  a  dinner  in  Paris  in  honor 
of  the  Battle  of  Waterloo,  and  invited  the  Emperor,  as  the  Ameri- 
can strangers  were  about  to  do,  to  glorify  themselves  over  our  de- 
feat, by  inviting  the  Governor  of  the  Colony  and  his  cabinet. 

The  Herald,  with  better  sense,  took  us  by  the  hand.  I  wrote  a 
letter  to  say,  that  this  was  our  custom  everywhere,  that  Geo.  Pea- 
body,  Esq.,  introduced  it  into  London  in  1851,  the  Duke  of  "Wel- 
lington being  his  guest  on  the  occasion.  I  also  told  them  that  the 
St.  George,  St.  Patrick,  St.  Andrew,  and  St.  Nicholas  Societies — 
Americans  and  Englishmen  together,  met  every  year  in  New  York, 
and  that  the  flags  of  both  nations  were  always  united  over  the 
social  board. 

The  dinner  6ame  off,  and  in  less  than  three  years  the  leading  men 
of  Melbourne  showed  their  good  feeling  in  tendering  me  a  public 
banquet  on  my  departure  from  the  colony.] 

After  the  usual  national  toasts  had  been 
duly  honored,  the  chair  called  out  Young 
America  by  giving  "  Massachusetts." 


36  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

Mr.  George  Francis  Train  responded  to 
the  toast.     He  said — 

Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen:  Most 
cheerfully  do  I  rise  to  reply  to  the  sentiment 
which  every  Massachusetts  man  must  feel  a 
thrill  of  pleasure  in  responding  to  ;  and  al- 
though my  proper  place,  it  would  seem  to 
me,  would  be  to  hide  myself  in  the  shadow 
of  the  many  eloquent  gentlemen  present,  who 
have  the  happy  faculty  of  using  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  tongue  in  a  manner  that  cannot  fail  to 
interest  you,  I  must  beg  permission  to  say 
a  word  in  telling  you  how  much  I  appreciate 
the  courtesy.  Massachusetts  is  my  native 
place,  and  I  assure  you  I  feel  proud  in  repre- 
senting her  this  evening.  I  was  born  beneath 
the  Shade  of  Faneuil  Hall.  My  schoolboy 
days  were  passed  among  her  forest  hills,  and 
my  mercantile  experience  I  obtained  amid 
the  shipping  of  her  capital. 

I  love  her  as  my  natural  mother,  and,  not- 
withstanding my  being  so  many  leagues  away, 
I  cannot  easily  forget  her  sacred  memory. 
But  she  needs  no  eulogy  from  me.  In  the 
magic  words  of  her  immortal  statesman, 
"  There  is  Lexington  and  Concord,  and  Bun- 
ker Hill,  and  there  will  they  remain  forever." 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  37 

The  prolific  land  that  has  given  birth  to  a 
Franklin,  an  Allston,  and  a  Story,  reads  in 
their  works  her  beautiful  history.  Her 
statesmen — her  historians — her  painters  and 
her  orators — her  merchants  and  her  me- 
chanics, rank  high  in  that  which  makes  men 
great.  Look  at  her  merchant  marine — note 
the  magnificent  fleet  of  clipper  ships  she  has 
launched  within  a  few  short  years,  and  ob- 
serve the  progress  in  their  modelling  ;  you 
have  them  within  a  very  short  period  all  the 
way  from  a  coal  hulk  to  a  pilot  yacht.  Not 
satisfied  with  having  built  the  fastest  ship, 
McKay  is  now  about  completing  the  largest 
clipper  in  the  world.  A  ship  330  feet  long, 
53  feet  breadth — a  three  decker,  with  four 
masts,  and  to  register  4,000  tons.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Need  I  tell  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  she  is  to  be 
called  the  Young  America  ?  (Cheers.)  This 
is  the  age  of  progress,  and  surprised  we  can- 
not be  at  anything  that  may  happen.  If  any 
man  of  good  sense  should  tell  me  that  he  an- 
ticipated taking  a  voyage  around  the  world, 
with  only  a  single  shirt  to  his  back,  and  one 
collar  in  his  hat,  in  some  patent  air-navigat- 
ing balloon,  or  that  England  and  America 


38  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

were  soon  to  be  made  Siamese  Twins,  hy  means 
of  a  submarine  magnetic  wire,  or  that  some 
promising  son  had  discovered  a  patent  for 
living  without  eating,  or  walking  while  sit- 
ting in  his  chair,  or  a  thousand  and  one  in- 
credible things,  I  should  want  to  reflect  a 
moment  before  I  began  to  laugh.  America 
has  been  making  rapid  strides  in  improve- 
ment ;  her  land  is  crossed  with  railroads, 
lined  with  electric  wire — 

"  The  steed  called  lightning,  say  the  Fates, 
Was  owned  in  the  Pnited  States — 
'Twas  Franklin's  hand  that  caught  the  horse, 
'Twas  harnessed  by  Professor  Morse." 

(Loud  applause.) 

By  the  last  mail  I  note  that  our  countrymen 
are  about  connecting  the  Atlantic  with  the 
Pacific  Ocean  by  one  continuous  chain  of 
iron,  and  projects  too  great  for  belief  are  be- 
ing consummated.  Inventions  too  wonderful 
to  be  credited,  are  daily  being  journalized. 
Her  canvas  whitens  every  sea,  and  her  sons 
are  scattered  broadcast  throughout  all  nations. 
We  have  been  often  laughed  at  for  our  na- 
tional pride,  but  I  for  one  am  prouder  than 
ever  for  every  new  discovery  that  she  makes 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  39 

to  promote  civilization  and  increase  the  good 
will  of  men.     (Cheers.) 

"  We  are  a  proud  people,  and  we  are  proud  of  right ; 
We  boast,  and  well  we  may.  Time,  in  his  flight, 
Has  never  seen  a  nation  spread  in  power, 
As  ours  has  widened  since  its  natal  hour ; 
Since  first  our  fathers  sought  this  western  strand, 
And  one  frail  vessel  bore  the  little  band. 
Now  leagues  on  leagues  the  heaving  ocean's  roar, 
Goes  bursting  on  our  broad  Atlantic  shore, 
Where  commerce  dwells ;  from  thence  to  every  sea, 
Is  borne  the  glorious  banner  of  the  free. 
Thence  far — far  westward — may  our  eagle  fly, 
Beneath  the  arching  of  his  native  sky  ; 
And  though  a  nestling,  by  the  ocean's  foam. 
Beyond  the  Kocky  Mountains  find  a  home." 

(Loud  cheers.) 

Let  US  leave  the  toast  and  jump  on  board 
a  Collins  steamship,  and  shake  hands  with 
our  relations  on  Albion's  shore.  Observe 
the  good  feeling  that  exists  between  us. 

And  my  prayer  shall  ever  be  that  the 
same  cordial  spirit  between  the  two  great 
branches  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  shall  con- 
tinue and  increase  under  the  flag  of  our  own 
happy  land  and  the  strong  arm  of  England, 
till  the  last  wave  breaks  on  the  shore  of  eter- 
nity. (Prolonged  cheering.)  May  no  bar- 
rier spring  up  to  mar  the  happiness  of  either. 


40  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

And  why  should  they  not  ever  be  on  the 
best  of  terms — the  gifted  mother  and  the 
progressive  child  ?  Compare  their  histories, 
and  in  many  features  you  can  but  detect  a 
strong  family  resemblance.  In  the  one  you 
have  an  acknowledged  republic — and  in  the 
other,  the  great  Talleyrand  tells  us  you  have 
the  republic  in  disguise — each  free,  and  both 
with  a  broad  and  liberal  government.  Real- 
ly, they  are  not  so  much  unlike.  Go  b^k 
to  earlier  days.  While  we  were  stirred  by 
the  burning  eloquence  of  Patrick  Henry,  and 
his  compatriots,  she  was  listening  to  the  im- 
mortal Burke  and  the  men  of  his  day.  If" 
the  same  domestic  fireside  has  given  England 
two  premiers,  so  has  the  old  Bay  State  fur- 
nished America  with  two  Presidents  from 
the  same  family,  for  while  she  may  speak  of 
the  eloquent  Chatham  and  the  wondrous  boy 
premier,  William  Pitt,  we  can  but  remember 
the  elder  Adams  and  his  son,  "the  old  man 
eloquent." 

One  from  each  land  died  in  full  honors 
while  in  the  councils  of  their  respective  na- 
tions. Look  at  England's  stupendous  monu- 
ments of  genius.  Go  and  see  that  leviathan 
piece  of  mechanism  of  Stephenson,  the  tubu- 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  41 

lar  bridge  ;  walk  through  the  Thames  tunnel, 
and  stop  a  moment  at  the  Crystal  Palace, 
and  you  will  find  wonders  artificial,  as  great 
in  magnitude  as  in  Niagara  Falls  and  the 
Mammoth  Cave  in  America  you  have  them 
natural.  Go  with  me  to  Chatsworth,  the 
most  beautiful  place  in  all  Europe,  and  here 
the  princely  owner  whom  I  was  honored  by 
meeting  on  the  banks  of  Menai,  will  tell  you 
of  what  Mr.  Paxton  has  done.  Industry  and 
enterprise  is  England's  excelsior  motto  as 
well  as  ours.  We  have  taken  many  a  leaf 
from  her  book,  and  have  oftentimes  rested 
beneath  her  wide- spreading  branches  of 
gigantic  oak,  which  cover  one  hundred  and 
fifty  millions  of  her  people  ] — even  now  we 
have  to  see  what  takes  place  in  the  world 
through  England. 

Read  that  mammoth  engine  of  the  press, 
that  bears  the  same  relation  to  England  that 
the  New  York  Herald  does  to  America,  the 
London  Times,  and  you  will  see  a  daily  his- 
tory of  the  world.  (Applause.)  But  enough 
of  the  land  of  my  nativity,  where  I  have 
spent  so  many  gala-days.  Enough  of  Eng- 
land, where,  in  that  great  commercial  port, 
Liverpool,  I  first  learned  the  true  meaning 


42  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

of  hospitality.  A  twelvemonth  among  her 
merchants,  I  can  judge  something  of  their 
dispositions  ;  for  before  I  had  been  there  as 
many  weeks,  they  made  me  feel  as  much  at 
home  as  though  I  had  been  with  them  as  ma- 
ny years.  I  say  enough  of  the  land  where 
I  was  born  and  the  land  where  I  sojourned 
so  short  a  time  ;  but  a  word  for  the  land  of 
my  adoption — Australia  !  my  new  home  ! 
May  its  precious  treasure  shed  a  peaceful 
light  throughout  the  social  circle,  and  de- 
velop a  gold  field  of  happiness  to  all  who 
have  been  drawn  beneath  its  magnet.  Aus- 
tralia !  the  brightest  star  in  the  whole  British 
galaxy.  May  it  continue  to  shine  over 
the  pathway  of  the  weary  emigrant,  until 
he  has  found  the  haven  for  which  he  has 
so  long  sought.     (Applause.) 

Australia !  the  great  El  Dorado  of  the 
Southern  Ocean,  may  the  time  be  not  far 
distant  when  we  shall  see  the  good  effects  of 
her  yellow  harvest  in  building  a  railroad  to 
Sydney,  and  to  Adelaide,  and  to  every  other 
commercial  town  in  the  colony  with  a  mag- 
netic telegraph  for  a  companion.  May  this 
wonderful  town  continue  to  grow  and  widen, 
until  it  has  eaten  up  all  the  surrounding  vil- 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 


43 


lages  ;  and  may  the  facilities  for  business 
keep  pace  with  the  wants  of  her  people,  and 
its  emancipation  is  a  subject  for  rejoicing. — 
(Applause.)  In  the  language  of  the  classic 
poet  of  Surrey,  I  know  you  will  let  me  join 
you  in  remembering  the  event : 

"  Rejoice,  O  land — our  golden  land  ? 

Be  glad  our  glorious  clime ! 
We  are  quit  of  the  curse  of  the  convict  band, 

We  are  free  from  the  taint  of  crime  ; 
Eejoice  and  h6  glad,  for  the  God  of  all  grace 

Has  heard  our  prayers  at,  length. 
And  bids  Australia  run  her  new  race — 

As  the  sun  going  forth  in  his  strength. 
No  more  shall  the  festering  prison  bark 

Bring  hither  its  cargo  of  strife  ; 
But  every  ship — as  the  olden  ark, 

Shall  pour  forth  love  and  life. 
No  longer  guilt,  all  greedy  for  gold, 

Shall  prosper  and  range  without  fear, 
But  virtue  and  freedom  shall  live  to  grow  old 

In  blessed  abundance — here ! 
Old  England's  wisest,  purest  and  best. 

Shall  flock  to  this  happier  shore. 
And  the  good  of  the  world,  from  the  east  to  the 
west. 

Shall  be  oars  for  evermore."      (Cheering.) 

Mr.  Chairman,  you  must  pardon  me  for 
detaining  you  so  long,  while  you  permit  me 
to  occupy  another  moment  of  your  time,  in 
giving  a  sentiment,  which  I  know  you  will  join 


44  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

me  in  :  "  The  Anglo-Saxon  race  throughout 
the  world — may  they  henceforth  know  no 
rivalry  but  to  advance  the  welfare  of  man- 
kind."    (Loud  applause.) 


•  •• 


Young  America's  response  at  a  public  banquet,  given  by  the 
Americans,  at  Melbourne^  Australia,  July  4:th,  1854,  to 
the  sentiment — "  The  Ladies — God  bless  them" 

The  Ladies — Grod  bless  them — deserve  all 
the  cheers  which  you  have  done  yourselves 
honor  by  giving  them.  They  are  worthy  of 
the  kindest  of  words,  the  loudest  of  hurrahs — 
the  very  name  of  woman  covers  all  that 
makes  life  dear  ;  you  give  her  last,  but  she  is 
ever  first — in  peace,  in  war — everywhere  and 
always,  she  is  the  beacon  light  that  guides  us. 

God  made  the  world,  but  the  world  would 
have  been  a  blank  had  he  not  created  woman 
to  be  the  companion  of  man. 

I  have  a  theory,  that  when  woman  dies 
the  rib  goes  back  to  man  from  whom  it 
was  borrowed,  and  when  man  is  no  more  he 
must  suffer  for  the  sins  of  both.  (Laughter.) 

You  could  not,  Mr.  Chairman,  have  given 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  45 

me  a  sentiment  more  congenial  to  my  feel- 
ings. No  man  hears  the  toast  without  having 
the  happiest  associations  of  his  life  opened 
afresh. 

"  Oh  woman  !  dear  woman !  whose  form  and  whose  soul 
Are  the  light  and  the  life  of  each  spell  we  pursue — 

Whether  sunn'd  in  the  tropics,  or  chill'd  at  the  pole, 
If  woman  be  there,  there  is  happiness  too." 

"Sweethearts  and  wives"  bring  out  a 
"  Health  to  all  good  lassies,"  and  when  toast- 
ing the  Queen  the  enthusiasm  is  intense,  be- 
cause she  is  a  woman,  the  pride  of  her  sex. 
(Cheers.)  # 

How  absurd  is  it  to  argue  for  or  against  a 
superiority  of  either  sex — nature's  laws  forbid 
such  nonsense — man  has  his  sphere — woman 
hers,  and  when  you  toast  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
you  should  not  forget  the  Pilgrim  Mothers. 
(Laughter  and  applause.) 

The  mother  of  Washington  is  never  forgot- 
ten when  we  remember  the  son. 

Take  the  dew  from  the  blossom — the  bud 
from  the  bee,  and  both  perish,  so  woman 
lives  for  man,  and  for  man  alone. 

The  needle  and  the  magnet  are  not  more 
constant  in  their  reciprocal  attractions  than  a 
good  woman  and  virtuous  man — you  cannot 


.-W"'* 


46  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

separate  them.  As  sunshine  and  rain  make 
glad  the  face  of  nature,  so  woman's  smile 
chastens  the  life  of  man. 

Mankind  means  womankind  also,  and  when 
we  toast  the  ladies  we  mean  woman,  the  wife, 
the  mother,  the  daughter,  the  sister  of  man. 

The  celestial  spark  of  woman's  love,  dim- 
med in  prosperity,  blazes  with  intensity  in 
adversity. 

The  forest  tree,  shattered  by  the  thunder- 
bolt, finds  the  ivy  clinging  the  closer  to  its 
prostrate  trunk.  So  woman's  love  shines  the 
brightest  when  man  bows  before  the  affec- 
tions of  life.     (Applause.) 

"There  is  in  life  no  blessing  like  woman's  affection : 
It  soothes,  it  hallows,  elevates,  subdues, 
And  bringeth  down  to  earth  its  native  heaven. 
It  sits  beside  the  cradle  patient  hours, 
Whose  sole  contentment  is  to  watch  and  love ; 
It  bendeth  o'er  the  death-bed,  and  conceals 
Its  own  despair  with  words  of  faith  and  hope, 
Life  has  naught  else  that  may  supply  its  place  : 
Void  is  ambition — cold  is  vanity, 
And  wealth  an  empty  glitter  without  woman's  love." 

Men  often  receive  credit  for  that  which  be- 
longs to  women. 

First  impressions  come  from  the  mother — 
as  an  overhanging  rock  wilts  the  flower,  so 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 


47 


may  a  mother's  frown  cast  a  shade  upon  the 
child  forever.  Place  a  straw  across  the  rivu- 
let and  how  crooked  is  the  river !  Scar  the 
sapling,  you  gnarl  the  oak. 

Virtues  and  vices  are  stereotyped  during 
the  tender  days  of  youth.  Nature  prints 
everything,  and  never  repeats.  The  mother 
of  Bacon  stamped  her  learning  on  the  son — 
Hume,  Sheridan,  Goethe,  all  speak  of  their 
mothers'  character  as  forming  their  own. 

Erskine's  mother  advised  the  law  ;  and  the 
mothers  of  Napoleon,  the  poet  Thomson, 
Scott,  and  Boerhaave,  all  marked  their  genius 
on  their  sons.  Randolph  beautifully  refers 
to  his  mother's  teaching  him  the  prayer 
"Our  Father." 

I  know  not  a  mother's  love — a  sister's  af- 
fection. In  another  land,  in  a  southern  city, 
I  was  left  motherless  and  sisterless — a  waif 
upon  life's  stormy  billows.  But  there  still 
lives,  in  a  far  off  country,  a  Christian  woman 
(my  mother's  mother),  who  engraved  impres- 
sions on  memory's  tablet  that  time  and  cir- 
cumstance can  never  efface. 

"  The  mothers  of  France  make  the  men/' 
said  Bonaparte. 

If  in  the  seraglios  of  the  East  woman  is  de- 


48  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

based,  in  the  homes  of  the  West  she  is  exalt- 
ed. In  Turkey,  men  compliment  their  wo- 
men by  uncovering  their  feet ;  in  America, 
by  taking  ojff  their  hats. 

As  the  sun  warms  the  flowers  of  the  field, 
so  woman's  sunshine  makes  glad  the  home  of 
man.  God  made  the  sexes  for  a  divine  pur- 
pose. "  Let  there  be  light" — and  that  light 
was  woman. 

"Not  she  with  traitorous  kiss  her  Saviour  stung, 
Not  she  denied  him  with  unholy  tongue ; 
She,  when  apostles  shrunk,  could  danger  brave, 
First  at  the  cross  and  earliest  at  the  grave." 

When  man  curses  the  vile  thing  that  he 
passes  with  a  shudder  in  the  street,  he  should 
not  forget  that  he  caused  all  her  squalor  and 
her  wretchedness. 

If  a  depraved  woman  is  worse  than  a  de- 
praved man,  so  is  a  noble  woman  more  exalt- 
ed than  a  noble  man. 

I  never  hear  women  spoken  of  lightly 
when  the  wine  goes  round,  that  I  do  not  im- 
pulsively stop  the  sweeping  assertion  with 
"Have  you  a  mother,  a  sister,  a  wife,  a 
daughter  ?"  The  flushed  faces  of  the  cow- 
ardly trifler  of  a  woman's  virtue  shows  that 
the  shaft  went  home.     'Tis  the  only  way  to 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  49 

check  the  tongue  from  running  wild"  over  the 
wine  cup. 

"  'Tis  said  of  woman,  raaid  or  wife, 
That  honor  is  a  woman's  life."        (Applause.) 

Woman's  impressions  are  lasting,  while 
ours  are  fleeting.  Instinctively  woman  ar- 
rives at  conclusions  which  man  gains  by 
reflection. 

What  woman  seeks  is  manhood — what  man 
cherishes  is  womanhood. 

The  wife  who  controls  her  husband,  except 
by  love,  debases  him,  and  cannot  respect  him." 
The  husband  who  would  trample  upon  the 
finer  feelings  of  the  wife,  wrongs  her  and 
lowers  himself. 

This  likening  women  to  angels  is  absurd  ; 
a  woman  in  a  drawing-room  with  wings  would 
create  a  decided  sensation.     (Laughter). 

What  man  wants  is  a  woman  (laughter) 
who  will  be  to  him  the  best  of  wives.  (Cheers). 

"  Woman  !  blest  partner  of  our  joys  and  woes, 
Even  in  the  darkest  hour  of  eartlily  ill, 
Untarnished  yet  thy  fond  affection  glows, 

Throbs  with  each  pulse,  and  beats  with  every  thrill 
When  sorrow  rends  the  heart,  when  feverish  pain 
Wrings  the  hot  drops  of  anguish  from  the  brow, 
To  soothe  the  soul,  to  cool  the  burning  brain, 
Oh  1  who  so  welcome,  and  so  prompt  as  thou  ?" 

3 


60  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

To  be  sure,  Eve  introduced  the  first  extra- 
vagance in  dress,  but  Adam  was  not  long  iu 
following  suit.  Men  are  as  absurd  in  their 
fashions  as  women.  There  is  one  thing  I  am 
convinced  of — husbands  do  not  give  their 
wives  sufficient  spending  money.  (Laughter.) 

Be  more  liberal,  so  that  when  misfortune 
comes  the  good  wife  will  bring  out  her  stock- 
ing full  of  savings.  I  have  never  observed 
the  working  of  this  theory,  but  have  read  of 
it  in  novels.  Some  of  you  who  have  been 
making  so  much  money  lately  better  try  it. 
(Laughter.) 

The  poet  Clarke  beautifully  said  : 

"  Then  twilight  let  her  curtain  down, 
And  pinned  it  with  a  star." 

He  should  have  said,  "  with  a  woman." 

Man  needs  woman's  refining  care  to  keep 
him  from  becoming  bachelorized.  What  is 
there  so  melancholy  as  to  see  a  confirmed  old 
bachelor  or  attenuated  old  maid  ?  (Laughter.) 

I  know  not  which  appears  the  most  miser- 
able. 

The  world  would  perish,  under  their  plan, 

during  the  present  century. 

The  maid  may  have  an  excuse — but  there 


SPEEAD-EAGLEISM.  51 

is  none  for  the  bachelor.  Early  disappoint- 
ments, causing  single  wretchedness  (not  bless- 
edness), of  course  are  far  dififerent  from  those 
who  deliberately  enter  on  the  half-scissor 
plan. 

A  counting-house  friend  of  mine  once  repeat- 
ed this  arithmetical  sentiment  when  respond- 
ing to  "  the  Ladies  :" 

"  May  they  add  virtue  to  beauty,  subtract 
envy  from  friendship,  multiply  amiable  ac- 
complishments by  sweetness  of  temper,  divide 
time  by  kind  words  and  happy  faces,  and  re- 
duce slander  to  the  lowest  denomination." 
(Applause.) 

Talk  about  gossips  !  Our  sex  love  to  gos- 
sip as  well  as  theirs  ;  and  if  a  woman-gossip 
is  a  pitiful  sight,  what  will  you  say  of  the 
man-gossip  ?  When  I  see  such,  I  think  the 
greatest  fool  in  the  world  is  a  woman — ex- 
cept a  man !     (Laughter.) 

You  never  compliment  a  woman  by  calling 
her  a  Yenus  ;  on  the  contrary,  you  insult  her. 
Yenus  was  the  goddess  of  Love,  not  of  Yirtue. 

I  love  nature  whenever  and  wherever 
clothed  in  beauty.  I  worship  the  rising  moon, 
the  setting  sun — a  beautiful  landscape,  or  a 
white-capped  sea — a  lovely  flower,  a  pretty 


a  OFIULUB. 


52  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

bird,  a  noble  animal — but  above  all,  a  beau- 
tiful woman ! 

"  Let  patriots  live  in  story — 

Too  often  they  die  in  vain. 
Let  conquerors  fight  for  glory — 

Too  dearly  the  meed  they  gain. 
Give  kingdoms  to  tliem  who  choose  'em  ; 

The  world  can  oifer  me 
No  throne  like  beauty's  bosom, 

No  freedom  like  serving  thee, 
Oh,  woman ! 

No  pleasure  like  serving  thee  !" 

The  ladies — again,  God  bless  them ! 

We  admire  them  for  their  graces,  we 
adore  them  for  their  virtues,  we  love  them 
because — we  cannot  help  it.  (Laughter  and 
cheers). 


(From  the  New  York  Journal  of  Commerce.) 

Speech  delivered  at  Mdhmirne,  Australia,  at  the  National 
Dinner  of  the  American  Citizens,  July  Aith,  1855. 

Mr.  Chase  proposed  "  George  F.  Train, 
Esq.,  and  Young  America." 

Mr.  Train  replied  as  follows.  His  speech 
requires  no  comment  ;  it  was  unquestionably 
the  speech  of  the  evening  : 

You  have  given  me,  Mr.  Chairman,  a  glori- 
ous theme,  but  you  overrate  my  ability  if  you 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  53 

expect  me  to  do  it  justice.  The  sentiment 
demands  an  abler  champion — but  your  warm 
and  hearty  call  gives  me  confidence,  and  all 
that  you  have  said,  I  pass  to  the  credit  of 
the  toast,  reserving  nothing  but  your  good- 
will for  the  speaker.  Your  enthusiasm  is 
well-timed,  gentlemen,  for  Young  America  is 
worthy  of  your  cheers,  and  the  association  of 
my  name  with  the  response,  commands  my 
deepest  obligations.  'Tis  a  proud  thing  for 
the  native-born  of  any  land  to  speak  of  his 
country  in  the  presence  of  his  countrymen, 
and  that  pleasant  duty  is  mine  to-night. 
Had  I  not  made  pleasure  before  business  the 
exception  to  the  rule,  I  should  have  been  ab- 
sent to-day  ;  but  to  tell  the  truth,  I  would 
not,  I  could  not  go  away.  On  two  occasions 
like  the  present  we  have  rejoiced  together, 
and  the  temptation  was  too  strong  not  to  be 
with  you  at  a  third,  more  especially  as  I  am 
about  to  visit  my  native  country,  where  I 
hope  to  meet  your  at  some  future  day, 

"  Ronnd  the  heartb-stone  of  home  in  the  land  of  our  birth, 
Tlie  holiest  spot  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 
Dear  country !  my  thoughts  are  as  constant  to  thee, 
As  the  steel  to  the  star,  or  the  stream  to  the  sea — 
Then,  hurrah  for  the  future  so  buoyant  and  bright. 
And  be  happy— if  never  again,  boys,  to-night !" — (Cheers.) 


54  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

Once  more  are  we  met  to  honor  this  day 
of  all  the  year — and  'tis  well  we  meet  in 
happy  fellowship,  for  it  is  our  own — the  gala- 
day  that  belongs  to  no  one  else !  Once 
more  we  bow  before  the  reaper,  Time,  to 
join  hand  and  hearts  and  voices  in  gratitude 
to  Him  who  doeth  all  things  well,  that  the 
Constitution  of  our  Fatherland  is  strong  and 
steadfast  as  the  granite  mountains  that  over- 
look my  native  city  !     Young  America  may 

well  feel  proud  ;  but  it  is  an  honest  and 
a  worthy  pride.  Who  can  show  such  bril- 
liant foliage  on  their  genealogical  tree  ?  The 
faded  leaves  are  still  bright  and  beautiful ; 
the  wide  spreading  branches  are  strong  with 
health  and  energy ;  the  deep-seated  roots 
are  adamantine  in  their  firmness  and  their 
strength  ;  while  the  gallant  old  trunk  stands 
triumphant,  the  beacon-light  of  a  pure  and 
noble  ancestry  !  (Cheers.)  Yes,  Alfred ! 
Thou  dazzling  meteor  of  a  darker  age.  Al- 
fred !  the  embodiment  of  all  that  makes  men 
great,  we  claim  thee  as  the  founder  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  !  The  ancestor,  through  a 
thousand  years,  of  Young  America !  From 
thence  till  now,  how  grand,  how  kingly  is 
our  history — one  continued  blaze  of  flashing 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  66 

constellations !  Leave  for  a  moment  our 
noble  relative  in  his  glory,  and,  with  the 
speed  of  thought  pass  on  to  the  period  when 
the  seventh  Henry  occupied  the  regal  chair, 
and  stand  with  me  on  the  "Pinta's"  deck, 
and  gaze  in  silent  wonder  through  the  glass 
of  the  great  Genoese  navigator  upon  a  con- 
tinent, the  future  home  of  Young  America ! 
(Applause.)  Pass  on  another  hundred  years, 
and  we  are  with  other  members  of  our  dis- 
tinguished family,  who  have  made  their 
names  immortal  ;  and  who  will  deny  that 
the  genius  of  Shakspeare,  the  philosophy  of 
Bacon,  and  the  inspiration  of  John  Milton, 
have  shed  a  halo  of  undying  fame  upon  pos- 
terity. 

"  We  cannot  dwell  on  England's  page  without  a  thrill  of  pride, 
Her  poets  are  our  heritage — her  statesmen  are  our  guide." 

When  Shakspeare's  light  went  out.  Young 
America's  commenced  to  burn,  for  it  was 
towards  the  close  of  the  Protestant  reign  of 
the  first  James,  about  the  time  the  hopeful 
Charles,  with  the  gay  Villiers  at  his  elbow, 
was  pursuing  a  romantic  courtship  at  the 
Spanish  throne,  before  organizing  the  Star 
Chamber,  so  soon  to  be  broken  up  by  Crom- 


56  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

well,  that  a  frail  and  tiny  bark  freighted 
with  a  hundred  brave  and  virtuous  men, 
whose  conscience  and  religion  were  more 
dear  to  them  than  all  beside,  touched  that 
rock-bound  coast,  and  the  May-flower  of  the 
Old  World  in  December  bloomed  afresh  in 
the  New. 

"  Ye  pilgrim  fathers,  though  ye  lie  perchance  in  graves  un- 
known, 
A  memory  that  cannot  die  hath  claimed  thee  for  its  own, 
A  sacredness  to  that  bleak  shore  your  dust  shall  aye  im- 
part— 
Your  requiem — the   ocean's   roar — your   shrine   a   nation's 
heart."     (Loud  cheering.) 

A  few  leagues  further  south  sprung  up  the 
colony  which  the  gallant  Raleigh  dedicated 
to  England's  virgin  queen,  and  an  Indian  prin- 
cess gave  her  hand  and  heart  to  the  Saxon 
planter,  after  risking  her  own  life  to  stop  the 
axe  that  was  quivering  over  the  life  of  the 
white  man.  Pocahontas,  daughter  of  Pow- 
hattan !  not  only  the  first  families  of  Virginia, 
but  we  of  Puritan  origin,  are  not  ashamed  to 
own  relationship  with  thy  persecuted  race  ! 

Prophetic  was  the  vision  of  Governor 
Berkeley  when  he  saw  in  the  infancy  of  the 
Old  Dominion,  the  Star  of  Empire  twinkling 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  57 

in  the  western  firmament !  A  century  more 
we  will  leave  behind  us — only  a  few  genera- 
tions back — and  we  are  transfixed  with  ad- 
miration while  listening  to  the  burning  elo- 
quence of  Chatham  and  of  Burke,  as  these 
great  orators  plead  our  cause  at  the  bar  of 
the  British  parliament,  begging  the  stubborn 
old  monarch  to  release  us  from  the  burdens 
that  oppressed  us.  But  no  ;  he  refused. 
And  as  the  sun  breaks  above  the  horizon, 
Young  America  commenced  his  glorious 
career.  (Cheers.)  Go  with  me  to  Washing- 
ton, and  I  will  show  you  a  life-like  picture 
of  the  first  congress  adopting  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  The  Napoleonic  laurels — 
the  spoils  of  Italian  conquest — which  now  or- 
nament the  Louvre — were  not  more  dear  to 
the  children  of  Italy,  than  the  historical 
paintings  of  Col.  Trumbull  in  the  Rotunda 
of  the  Capitol  are  dear  to  Young  America. 
But  the  citizen  of  the  Great  Republic  trem- 
bles most  with  emotion  when  contemplating 
that  spotless  character — that  has  lived  for 
more  than  half  a  century  without  a  blemish  ! 
Throughout  all  time,  who  will  discover  aught 
to  mar  the  immortality  of  the  father  of  his 
country  ?     If  we  cannot  praise  him,  let  the 

3* 


68  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

world  be  silent !  These  good  men  all  are 
gone,  and  others  who  have  left  their  "foot- 
prints on  the  sands  of  Time,"  or  graven  in  the 
rock  of  ages  are  no  more.  Most  of  those 
intellectual  giants  that  towered  so  far  above 
their  compeers,  are  with  the  dead ;  and 
every  true-hearted  Young  American  will 
pay  the  willing  tribute  of  a  tear  with  equal 
sincerity  at  the  tomb  of  the  brilliant  Caro- 
linian— the  dignified  sage  of  Ashland — or  the 
magnificent  logician  and  orator  of  Marshfield. 
(Applause.) 

How  wonderful  is  the  past !  We  have  gone 
over  the  changes  of  a  thousand  years,  and 
have  seen  therein  the  grandeur  of  our  race. 
But  if  the  retrospective  view  has  dazzled  us, 
how  much  more  astonishing  is  the  present, 
when  thirteen  sparsely  populated  States  have 
swollen  into  near  forty  living  republics,  bound 
together  as  one  nation  ;  when  our  three  mil- 
lions have  grown  to  thirty,  and  *  *  driven  by 
the  hand  of  God  "  to  quote  De  Tocqueville — 
"are  peopling  the  western  wilderness  at  the 
average  rate  of  seventeen  miles  of  space  per 
annum !"  when  our  lilliputian  commerce 
has  whitened  every  sea,  and  our  mother 
tongue  has  worked  its  way  into  every  land  ; 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  59 

and  when  our  influence  and  our  progress — 
like  the  ripple  in  mid-ocean — reaches  from 
shore  to  shore  !  Startle  not,  my  friends,  at 
the  lightning  pace  of  the  pilgrim's  steed ! 
He  is  sure  to  win  the  race — naught  stops  him 
in  his  destiny.  When  danger  lurks  in  his 
pathway,  he  turns  high  his  head  and  snorts  a 
proud  defiance  at  the  precipice  that  would 
have  engulfed  him,  and  plunges  on  to  vic- 
tory !     (Cheers.) 

If  the  past  is  so  outshone  by  the  present, 
what  shall  we  say  of  the  future — the  dim, 
mysterious  future  ?  Ask  me  not  to  draw  the 
curtain.  Events  follow  events  too  rapidly  to 
leave  room  for  man's  conjecture.  The  map 
of  the  world  a  few  years  only  hence  will  show 
the  long  range  of  divided  empire.  Asia  al- 
ready trembles  with  the  Tartar  Revolution. 
Europe  is  blazing  with  the  great  changes  that 
are  bursting  with  volcanic  majesty  over  mil- 
lions of  armed  men,  while  Africa  looks  on 
aghast !  Such  is  the  position  of  the  Eastern 
Hemisphere.  Australia,  too !  the  infant  set- 
tlement of  all  nations,  is  springing  like  magic 
into  manhood.  The  picture  of  our  island 
home  stands  boldly  out,  the  first  nation  of  the 
Indian  Ocean,  the  young  giant  of  the  South- 


60  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

ern  Seas,  whose  golden  riches  are  as  bound- 
less as  the  range  of  thought.  Where,  amidst 
the  raging  of  the  tempest,  is  the  Saxon  ship  of 
state  the  while  ?  I  answer,  riding  safely  in 
the  great  hai:bor  of  the  "West.     (Cheers.) 

Young  America  is  only  Young  England  in 
another  hemisphere  ;  or  rather.  Young  John 
Bull  working  in  wider  garments,  with  an  en- 
ergy that  was  never  brought  out  before,  be- 
cause never  fairly  and  properly  nourished  in 
his  old  ancestral  isle.  England  and  America 
are  really  partners,  not  rivals.  The  younger 
nation  is  the  junior,  who  manages  the  west- 
ern branch  of  the  old  concern.  Youth  gives 
activity,  and  hence  the  young  man  opens  his 
letters  before  breakfast  on  the  steps  of  the 
Post-office,  whilst  the  old  gentleman  prefers 
breaking  the  seal  in  dressing-gown  and  slip- 
pers after  dinner.  (Laughter.)  Young  Ame- 
rica showed  the  same  feelings  of  independence 
in  establishing  a  house  of  his  own  that  every 
young  man  experiences  who  leaves  the  old 
firm  to  earn  an  honest  livelihood  by  his  own 
exertions.  In  this  instance  the  connection 
with  the  old  concern  is  of  more  value  than 
with  the  balance  of  the  world.  The  revolu- 
tion was  merely  an  animated  conversation, 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  61 

where  shot  and  cannon  were  introduced  to 
give  emphasis  to  the  debate,  and  when  the 
disputed  "  points  "  were  settled,  old  England 
rose  with  renewed  vigor  in  Young  America. 
The  sources  of  discord  soon  began  to  dry,  and 
now,  as  the  flower  turns  to  the  sun,  the 
needle  to  the  magnet,  the  child  to  its  mother, 
as  the  twin  brothers  of  Siam  receive  each  the 
same  emotions,  so  are  we  bound  by  speaking 
the  same  language  and  worshipping  the  same 
God,  to  remember  England,  the  proud  old 
mother  of  our  race. 

"  And  join  the  Stars  and  Stripes  and  Cross  in  one  fraternal 
band, 
Till  Anglo-Saxon  faith  and  laws  illumine  every  land." 

No  discord  should  jar  such  friendly  relations. 
The  bare  thought  of  it  has  touched  a  spring 
in  the  English  poet's  brain,  who,  when  speak- 
ing of  Roman,  Saxon,  Norman,  and  Danish 
conquest,  elegantly  observes — 

"  We've  grieved,  we've  sighed,  we've  wept. 
We  never  Mushed  before." 

Give  US,  then,  peace  in  Europe — but  at  all 
events,  neutrality  and  non-intervention  in 
America.     (Cheers.) 


62  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

Young  Americans,  our  strength  is  in  our 
union.  Divide  us,  and  our  power  is  gone. 
United,  we  gaze  fearlessly  on  the  startling 
scenes  that  now  convulse  the  world.  Break 
us  asunder,  and  the  fragments  of  the  wreck 
would  strew  the  beach  for  centuries.  The  Young 
American  is  the  son  of  the  pilgrim  ;  hence  you 
find  him  here  and  everywhere.  He  knows 
no  narrow-minded  ideas  of  local  virtue,  no 
jealousy  of  others'  progress.  When  opening 
the  argument  of  his  nativity  and  future 
prospects,  he  simply  says  with  Webster — 
"  There  is  my  country,  she  speaks  for  herself. 
So  long  as  the  plains  beyond  the  mountains 
remain  uncultivated,  you  will  find  our  eaglet's 
flight  is  onward  and  upward — straight  on." 
Your  pardon,  gentlemen,  and  my  thanks 
once  more  ;  if  my  remarks  have  been  too 
much  extended,  yt)u  should  have  given  me  a 
less  prolific  subject.  And  now,  my  friends,  you 
must  join  me  in  drinking  a  flowing  bumper 
to  the  anniversary — may  we  ever  hail  as  en- 
thusiastically its  return.  Americans,  I  give 
you  "  Our  Country,  long  may  she  live 

"  Hail,  our  country's  natal  morn  ! 
Hail,  our  wide  spread  kindred  born ! 
Hail,  our  banner — never  torn, 

Waving  o'er  the  free ! 


I" 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  63 

"  While  this  day,  in  festal  throng; 
Millions  swell  the  patriot's  song, 
So  will  we  our  notes  prolong ! 

Hallowed  Jubilee!"   (Cheers.) 


•  •> 


(From  the  New  York  Herald,  July  26, 186T.) 

Complimentary  Dinner  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1857,  hy  the 
American  Residents  in  Liverpool,  to  the  Officers  of  the 
United  States  Frigate  Niagara,  in  Celebration  of  the 
Eighty-first  Anniversary  of  American  Independence. 

OFFICERS  OF  THE    NIAGARA. 

Captain  Hudson,  Commander  Pennock, 
Lieutenant  Todd,  Captain  Rich,  Marine  offi- 
cer ;  Purser  Eldridge,  Lieutenant  Guest,  Lieu- 
tenant Wells,  Lieutenant  Kennon,  Chief  En- 
gineer Everett,  Assistant-Surgeons  Lynch  and 
Washington,  Assistant- Engineers  Kellog, 
Moore,  G-rier,  McElwell  and  Kutz  ;  Mr.  Hud- 
son, Captain's  clerk,  and  Mr.  Willard. 

First-Lieutenant  North,  Surgeon  Palmer, 
Lieutenant  Whiting,  Lieutenant  Macaulay, 
Lieutenant  Boyd,  and  a  number  of  junior  offi- 
cers, were  absent  in  consequence  of  having  to 
attend  duty  on  shipboard. 


64  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

AMERICAN  RESIDENTS  OF  LIVERPOOL. 

Daniel  James,  Wm.  Smith  Bird,  Benj.  F. 
Sabcock,  John  Caro,  S.  B.  Guion,  C.  K.  Prio- 
leau,  Richard  S.  Ely,  James  McHenry,  Wm. 
T.  Whittemore,  John  Calder,  James  Jackson, 
Wm.  R.  Morgan,  W.  W.  Mertens,  George 
Warren,  Wm.  L.  Trenholm,  Henry  Nash, 
Eben  Howes,  R.  M.  A.  Kerchevel,  Frederick 
B.  Elliott,  D.  P.  Morgan,  Henry  Starr,  David 
Stuart,  Rutson  Maury,  Robt.  M.  Grinnell, 
Stuart  H.  Brown,  J.  George  Smith,  Horace 
H.  Stevens. 

AMERICAN    GUESTS. 

Wm.  B.  Higgins,  Manchester  ;  Mr.  Baylor, 
United  States  Consul  at  Manchester  ;  J.  S. 
Oakford,  London  ;  Captain  Oliver  Eldridge, 
of  the  Atlantic  ;  George  F.  Train,  of  Boston  ; 
J.  H.  Orme,  James  Maury,  of  New  Orleans  ; 
Col.  Follen,  Chas.  Roome,  of  New  York  ;  Jas. 
Buchanan  Read,  Abbott  Brown,  of  New 
York  ;  Rev.  Mr.  Calder,  of  Charleston,  South 
Carolina  ;  C.  T.  Mitchell,  of  South  Carolina, 
and  J.  MuUaly,  of  New  York. 

The  President  read  the  eighth  regular  toast, 
as  follows  : 

"  Our  Country." 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  65 

And  the  cheering,  to  borrow  an  old,  but 
on  this  occasion  a  true  quotation,  by  which  it 
was  followed,  "beggars  all  description." 

Mr.  Train,  of  Boston,  a  gentleman  who  has 
already  made  himself  known  to  his  country 
by  his  eminent  success  as  a  merchant  in  Aus- 
tralia, by  his  travels  over  the  islands  of  the 
Indian  Ocean,  through  the  British  East  India 
possessions,  in  Europe  and  elsewhere,  re- 
sponded to  this  toast.  [I  should  remark  here 
that  his  letters,  which  were  published  some 
time  ago  in  the  Herald,  and  which  were  de- 
scriptive of  his  travels,  have  rendered  his 
name  familiar  to  its  readers.]  He  addressed 
the  company  as  follows  : 

Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen — our  coun- 
try for  four  score  years  and  one  has  been 
speaking  a  living  language  to  the  debt-bur- 
dened nations  of  the  world,  and  stamps  her 
own  eulogy  on  every  tree  and  shrub  and 
river  throughout  our  broad  domain.  Per- 
fume to  the  rose,  light  to  the  sun  man  can- 
not add,  and  words  of  mine  can  never  glorify 
that  land  we  love  so  well.  Yet  to  be  silent 
would  be  to  slight  your  courtesy.  A  boy  in 
years,  you  honor  me  first  in  inviting  me  here 
to  night,  and  secondly,  in  giving  me  the  toast 


66  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

of  the  evening.  For  both  these  compliments, 
gentlemen  of  the  committee,  accept  the  heart- 
felt obligations  of  one  who  daily  thanks  his 
Grod  that  he  is  an  American.  You  overrate 
my  powers  of  speech,  if  so  impromptu  you 
think  I  can  do  justice  to  the  sentiment.  An 
hour  since  I  knew  not  that  my  name  stood 
opposite  the  toast  ;  but  our  country  expects 
every  man  to  do  his  duty.  You  draw  on  me 
at  sight.  I  accept  the  draft.  I  am  glad  to 
meet  the  American  merchants  who  have  as- 
sembled together  to  celebrate  the  anniversary 
of  our  national  independence.  I  am  proud 
to  shake  hands  with  the  officers  of  the  grand- 
est war-ship  in  the  world.  My  cup  of  plea- 
sure is  overflowing  to  meet  you  around  this 
social  board — to  listen  to  your  eloquent 
bursts  of  nationality — to  laugh  when  you 
laugh — to  cheer  when  you  cheer,  as  the  bum- 
per toasts  go  round.  (Applause.)  Our 
country — sweet  land  of  liberty! — "  the  land 
of  the  brave  and  the  home  of  the  free  !"  How 
the  blood  rushes  through  our  veins  as  we 
listen  to  the  music  of  the  Star-spangled  Ban- 
ner— the  music  of  universal  unity  !  (Ap- 
plause.) I  am  just  from  the  Continent,  where 
time  to  me  was  money  in  learning  the  Euro- 


SPEEAD-EAGLEISM.  67 

pean  languages  ;  but  I  heard  there  no  sounds 
so  dear  to  me  as  those  of  my  mother  tongue. 
"Home,  sweet  home  "  is  the  syren  song  of 
every  true  American.  JSTo  matter  where  I 
have  drifted  upon  the  sea  of  change,  restless 
to  add  another  page  to  the  book  of  know- 
ledge, my  love  of  country  increases  as  the 
sands  run  through  the  glass.  The  world  has 
opened  the  treasure  box  of  nature,  and  I 
have  gazed  in  silent  astonishment  at  what  has 
been  spread  before  me.  But,  Mr.  Chairman, 
whether  looking  at  the  crater  down  deep  in 
the  bowels  of  Vesuvius,  or  gazing  on  the 
Roman  world  from  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's — 
bathing  in  the  river  Jordan,  or  culling  flow- 
ers in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane — using  the 
pickaxe  two  hundred  feet  below  the  earth's 
surface  on  the  Balaarat — contemplating  the 
delta  and  the  desert  five  hundred  feet  above 
from  the  pyramid  of  Ghizeh — standing  in 
company  with  an  emu  and  a  kangaroo  on  the 
shores  of  Botany  Bay,  or  roaming  over  the 
ground  trod  by  Sir  John  Franklin  in  Tas- 
mania— worshipping  nature  in  the  primeval 
forest  at  Buitenzorg,  in  Java,  where  the  tomb 
of  Lady  Baffles  reminded  me  that  England 
once  possessed  that  Garden  of  Eden,  or  sur- 


68  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

rounded  by  Ladrone  pirates  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Yank-tse-kiang  as  the  typhoon  swept  us 
towards  the  shore — talking  silks  and  teas  with 
the  merchant  princes  of  Canton,  or  cor- 
morant fishing  at  Foo  Chow-foo — wandering 
over  the  Mount  of  Olives — standing  on  the 
Leaning  Tower  of  Pisa,  or  walking  on  the 
Hoogly's  banks  as  the  Sepoy  army  received 
Lord  Canning — listening  to  Louis  Napoleon 
as  he  talked  of  American  railways  and  his 
New  York  life,  at  the  Tuileries,  or  hearing 
the  deafening  cheers  that  rang  along  the  lines 
when  the  boy-Emperor  of  Austria  rode 
through  the  ranks  on  the  anniversary  of  the 
birthday  of  Maria  Theresa — ra  pageant  that 
occurs  but  once  in  a  hundred  years : — no 
matter  where  the  tide  of  fortune  takes  me — 
and  I  have  seen  all  lands,  and  heard  all 
tongues  in  my  one  hundred  and  sixty  thou- 
sand miles  of  rambling — "  our  country  " 
stands  out  in  bold  relief,  the  fairest  land  in 
Christendom !  Asia  has  heard  of  our  pros- 
perity— Africa  reads  our  history — Europe 
opens  v/ide  her  eyes — Russia  is  proud  of  our 
Friendship — Austria  respects  us — France  sees 
our  giant  growth — England  trembles  for  her 
commerce — all  the  world  wonders.    The  win- 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  69 

ter  ocean  sings  the  requiem  over  that  shiver- 
ing band  of  pilgrims  whose  bones  make  sacred 
that  bleak  New  England  shore,  while  Wash- 
ington Irving  has  sent  Columbus'  name  down 
to  future  generations.  Then  come  the  pa- 
triots of  '76 — that  immortal  band  who, 
eighty- one  years  ago,  so  lion-hearted,  signed 
their  names  to  that  eloquent  declaration  on 
yonder  wall,  and  planted  that  tree  of  religious 
freedom  and  civil  liberty  that  not  only  covers 
thirty  millions  of  our  people,  but  everywhere 
holds  out  its  protecting  branches  to  oppressed 
mankind,  saying  "  Come  unto  me,  and  I  will 
give  you  shelter."  (Applause.)  Yet  while 
we  lay  our  burning  tears  upon  the  graves  of 
these  towering  minds,  let  us  hope  that  the 
American  forest  will  still  show  us  the  growth 
of  intellectual  purity  and  greatness.  (Ap- 
plause.) Our  eagle  stoops  to  no  small  flight 
— the  king  of  birds,  as  our  country  is  the 
first  of  nations.  Stand  back,  old  mother  land 
— think  of  the  cotton  and  the  corn — look  at 
our  commerce — remember  our  history — and 
in  these  days  of  doubt  and  dread  that  hang 
over  Europe  and  your  Indian  empire,  don't 
forget  that  America  is  your  truest  friend, 
where  blood  and  kindred,  laws  and  religion, 


70  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

bind  us  by  an  annual  contract  of  one  hundred 
millions  sterling  to  keep  the  peace.  (Ap- 
plause.) England  boasts  of  that  wonderful 
work  in  "Wales — ^that  fairy  palace  at  Syden- 
ham— that  astonishing  bridge  under  the 
Thames — that  monster  steamship  on  its  banks, 
and  America  points  with  pride  to  nature's 
noblemen — the  cave  of  the  West  and  the 
great  Falls.  But  now  art  and  nature  are  to 
be  united.  The  Falls  of  Niagara  cease  to  be 
an  object  of  wonder  in  regarding  the  great 
achievements  of  science,  and  the  whole  world 
has  forgotten  it  in  the  deep  interest  with 
which  they  are  watching  the  result  of  the  en- 
terprise in  which  the  noble  ship  Niagara  is 
engaged.  As  the  river  where  Fulton  effected 
on  the  water  what  Watts  accomplished  on  the 
land,  surely  and  safely  made  its  way  through 
its  mountain  paths  to  the  sea,  so  will  Hudson 
trace  his  track  along  the  wave,  and  do  his 
duty  in  acting  as  bridegroom  at  a  wedding 
where  all  the  world  are  spectators.  (Ap- 
plause.) Cousins  marry  cousins  in  European 
courts,  and  the  mind  is  dimmed  by  the  union  ; 
but  here,  father  will  marry  daughter,  and  the 
result  of  the  union  will  be  the  most  brilliant 
chapter  in  the  history  of  the  civilized  world. 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  71 

"  On  the  same  tablet  that^wus  a  Franklin's  name, 
Thine,  Morse,  in  living  characters  will  flame." 

And  when  the  two  countries  are  struck 
by  lightning,  each  may  justly  share  the  thun- 
der. (Renewed  applause.)  Depend  upon 
it,  the  rolling-stone  will  belie  the  adage,  and 
gather  "moss,"  provided  it  has  a  "Field" 
to  work  the  electric  jfluid  on  the  Stock  Ex- 
change. Grand  as  will  be  the  union  of  the 
two  great  Saxon  empires,  the  union  of  our 
own  fair  country  is  dearer  to  every  Ameri- 
can than  aught  beside — 

"  We  are  a  great  nation,  while  the  silken  band 

That  binds  the  union  of  our  happy  land 

Kemains  unbroken. 
We,  no  doubt,  may  feel 

Of  foreign  influence  or  foreign  steel — 

Turn  back  the  bolts  against  us  hurled — 

Throw  down  our  gauntlet  and  defy  the  world  I" 

Our  country  right  is  our  first  thought ;  but 
right  or  wrong  our  country.  (Enthusiastic 
applause.) 

'i  Who  shall  sever  Freedom's  shrine ; 
Who  will  draw  the  invidious  line? 
Though  by  birth  one  spot  is  mine — 

Dear  are  all  the  rest — 
Dear  to  me  the  South's  fair  land, 
Dear  your  central  western  band — 
Dear  New  England's  rocky  strand, 
Dear  the  prairied  West." 


72  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

Let  our  voices  ring  round  the  world — past 
Cape  Clear — past  the  banks  of  Newfound- 
land, rolling  on  to  our  Atlantic  border,  till 
the  trapper  catches  the  sound  on  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  and  whirls  it  scornfully  past 
Brigham  Young  and  his  nest  of  vipers,  to 
the  gem  of  the  Pacific — California  ;  and  still 
onward  on  that  broad  ocean,  where  another 
golden  land  has  caught  the  fire,  and  where 
ten  thousand  Americans  in  Australia  com- 
memorate that  anniversary,  the  celebration 
of  which  I  introduced  there  four  years  ago, 
and  where  they  echo  back  the  glorious  words 
"  Union  !  Liberty  !"     (Applause.) 

"  By  our  altars,  pure  and  free — 
By  our  law's  deep  rooted  tree — 
By  the  past's  dead  memory — 

By  our  Washington : 
By  our  hopes,  bright,  buoyant,  young — 
By  our  common  kindred  tongue — 
By  our  love  of  country  strong, 

We  will  still  be  one."  (Enthusiastic  applause.) 

Again  accept  my  thanks,  and  once  more  let 
me  hear  your  cheer  when  I  name  the  magic 
words — Our  Country. 

Mr.    Train's    remarks    were     listened    to 
throughout  with  the   greatest   interest,   and 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  73 

when  he  sat  down,  the  applause  with  which 
they  were  received  was  renewed. 

(From  the  New  York  Herald,  July  26th.) 

Mr.  Purser  Eldridge,  after  having  been 
repeatedly  called  upon  for  a  speech  or  senti- 
ment, regretted  that  he  was  not  fluent  of 
speech,  and  feared  that  he  could  contribute 
•but  little  to  the  general  entertainment  if  he 
were  to  make  the  attempt  ;  but  as  he  had  no 
doubt  the  company  had  been  equally  de- 
lighted with  himself  in  listening  to  the  elo- 
quent remarks  that  had  fallen  from  the 
gentleman  late  of  Australia,  Mr.  Train,  he 
would  feel  obliged  if  he  would  act  as  his 
proxy  and  pour  out  a  little  more  of  that 
train  oil  which  lubricated  so  well  the  ma- 
chinery of  speech  and  caused  so  great  a  flow 
of  eloquence,  poetry  and  patriotic  senti- 
ment. 

The  allusion  to  Mr.  Train  brought  that 
gentleman  good  humoredly  to  his  feet  again, 
when  he  favored  the  company  with  another 
of  those  outbursts  of  passionate  and  fervidly 
patriotic  eloquence  which  had  electrified  his 
audience  in  the  earher  part  of  the  evening. 

4 


74  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

(From  the  New  York  Tribune.) 

We  have  been  betrayed  into  these  natural 
and  national  reflections  by  noticing  that  at 
the  dinner  of  American  merchants  in  Liver- 
pool upon  the  last  blessed  Fourth  of  July 
that  ever  was,  a  gentleman  by  the  name 
of  Train — he  ought  hereafter  to  be  called 
Lightning  Train — brought  out  our  bird  and 
put  hira  through  his  flights  in  a  way  which 
justly  entitles  the  exhibiter  to  be  called  the 
Yan  Amburgh  of  Eagles.  At  that  banquet 
we  were  in  a  bad  way  for  a  little  while.  Prof. 
Morse,  Mr.  Dallas,  Mr.  Hawthorne,  and 
other  well-known  Americans,  had  sent  their 
regrets  and  their  toasts — some  dry  and  some 
buttered — in  envelopes.  Captain  Hudson  of 
the  Niagara  was  present,  but  that  gentle- 
man, albeit  an  incarnate  man-of-war,  declined 
to  fire  a  broadside,  and  contented  himself 
with  making  a  modest  speech.  Our  eagle 
was  actually  beginning  to  moult ;  but  when 
the  toast  "Our  Country"  was  given,  Mr. 
Train  of  Boston  was  instantly  upon  his  legs, 
and  was  after  that  lion  in  the  twinkling  of 
an  eye.  In  a  second  the  quadruped  was 
floored.      Talk  about  bearding  !     Why,  that 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  75 

animal  was  down  to  the  degree  that  he  will 
never  get  up  again.  The  lions  in  Daniel's 
den  must  have  been  in  low  spirits  when  they 
found  themselves  hungry,  instead  of  having 
a  prophet  for  supper  as  they  had  expected  ; 
but  we  can  tell  the  reader  that  those  lions 
were  as  light-hearted  as  children  at  play,  in 
comparison  with  their  British  brother  upon 
the  Fourth  of  July  in  Liverpool 


Imfromptu  Remarks  made  at  a  Banqv.et  given  by  Messrs. 
James  Baines  ^  Co.,  Liverpool,  EnglaTid,  on  board  their 
Packet-ship  Oliver  Lang,  New  Zealand  bound. 

The  leading  merchants,  bankers,  and  edi- 
tors of  Liverpool  were  present. 

(From  the  Northern  Times,  Liverpool,  1856.) 

T.  M.  Mackaylery  in  the  chair. 

The  Chairman  again  rose  and  said  :  Gen- 
tlemen, it  would  ill  become  us,  while  we  are 
rejoicing  in  the  prosperity  of  New  Zealand, 
to  forget  that  of  the  sister  colony  of  Australia, 
whose  golden  regions  have  contributed  so 
much  to  the  wealth  of  New  Zealand  at  the 
present  moment.     I  am  happy   to   say  that 


76  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

we  have  in  this  assembly,  one  of  the  most 
eloquent  and  most  esteemed  merchants  of 
Melbourne,  and  from  the  reports  that  we  re- 
ceive from  time  to  time  of  its  enormous  auri- 
ferous deposits,  one  is  almost  induced  to  con- 
sider that  there  may  be  some  truth  in  the 
theory  that  "  gold  is  not  riches."  I  know  of 
no  person  who  is  more  calculated  to  unde- 
ceive the  "  slow  coaches  "  of  the  old  country, 
than  Mr,  Train — (laughter) — and  I  beg  to 
couple  his  name  with  the  toast — "  The  port 
and  trade  of  Melbourne."     (Hear,  hear.) 

The  toast  was  drank  with  all  the  honors. 

Mr.  Train  responded.  He  said  :  Mr. 
Chairman  and  gentlemen,  it  is  a  proud  thing 
for  an  American  to  be  thus  honored.  I  can 
hardly  speak.  You  pay  me  a  high  compli- 
ment in  asking  me  to  respond  to  such  a  sen- 
timent. But  you  have  over-rated  my  ability 
in  expecting  me  to  do- it  justice.  To  remain 
silent,  however,  would  be  to  be  forgetful  of 
the  many  pleasant  days  I  have  passed  under 
an  Australian  sun  ;  but  when  I  see  so  many 
eloquent  men  about  me — so  many  English- 
men, (merchants  connected  with  the  colonies) 
— my  feelings  tell  me  that  you  should  have 
devolved  upon  others  the  duty  of  responding 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  77 

to  the  toast  of  the  port  and  trade  of  Mel- 
bourne. My  fitter  place  would  be  to  get  be- 
hind the  awning,  and  make  room  for  others 
who  could  speak  the  English  language  in  a 
manner  pleasing  to  you  all,  combining  in- 
struction with  information.  (Cries  of  "  No, 
no.")  But  fortunately  for  me,  the  port  and 
trade  of  Melbourne  require  no  champion — no 
defender.  If  New  Zealand,  according  to  Sir 
Robert  Peel,  is  to  be  the  Great  Britain  of  the 
Eastern  Ocean,  what  will  Melbourne  be,  I 
ask  ?  (Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)  It  is  scarcely 
twenty  years  since  a  British  Minister  was 
complimented  upon  giving  to  a  great  Austra- 
lian port  a  name  ;  and  that  name  will  be  as 
lasting  as  the  knowledge  of  England's  great- 
ness. (Cheers.)  It  is  but  a  short  time  ago 
— I  think  it  was  about  the  time  that  the  great 
financial  whirlwind  was  passing  through  the 
world,  in  1838 — when  a  little  body  of  settlers 
touched  at  Port  Philip,  and  planted  the  seed 
of  a  future  empire.  Years  passed  on.  You 
heard  nothing  through  the  lands  but  the  low- 
ing of  cattle  and  the  bleating  of  sheep.  Time 
kept  .pace — years  rolled  by — quiet  was  reign- 
ing in  the  land — the  Australian  boor  was 
talking  to  the  Australian  shepherd,  and  the 


78  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

boomerang  was  whistling  over  the  squatter's 
hut — when  suddenly  there  came  a  eureka 
shout  from  Ballarat.  It  passed  through  the 
land.  It  passed  through  the  colonies  like  a 
prairie  fire.  It  was  heard  at  Melbourne, 
Port  Philip,  and  Adelaide.  It  passed  along 
round  the  Cape,  by  St.  Helena,  and  on 
through  England,  America,  and  the  whole 
world,  like  an  electric  flash.  (Applause.)  I, 
among  the  first,  was  in  the  field.  I  left  Bos- 
ton at  the  commencement  of  1853,  and  ar- 
rived at  the  port  of  Melbourne,  and  saw  there 
some  600  square-rigged  vessels,  and  none  dis- 
charging. Such  a  sight  no  man  ever  saw 
before,  nor  will  he  ever  see  again  ;  I  could 
hardly  believe  my  eyes.  I  went  out  with  my 
clerks,  each  man  with  a  revolver.  (Laughter.) 
I  went  out  armed,  as  I  thought  I  was  going 
to  a  convict  country,  and  that  you  could  not 
take  up  the  Melbourne  Argus  without  reading 
of  people  being  shot  down  in  the  streets. 
What  was  my  astonishment  to  see  the  port 
completely  packed  with  shipping  ;  but  I 
found  little  facility  there  for  working  them. 
I  found  no  warehouses — no  docks,  like  yours, 
Mr.  Mayor.  I  saw  nothing  commensurate 
with  its  greatness.      We  soon  took  hold — 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  79 

English,  Scotch,  Irish,  and  American,  alto- 
gether ;  and  now  behold  the  change  ! 
£34,000,000  sterling  of  property  you  sent  us 
in  two  years  for  a  population  of  less  than 
250,000.  (Laughter.)  And  do  you  wonder 
at  the  result  ?  I  remember  when  I  left  Bos- 
ton, one  of  what  we  call  the  long-headed 
merchants — men  who  send  out  in  long  voy- 
ages, to  India  and  China,  and  wait  during 
twelve  months  before  remittances  can  come 
to  them — met  me  in  the  street.  ' '  Well,  you 
are  going  to  Australia?"  "Yes."  "You 
will  see  a  sight  that  will  astonish  your  eyes  ; 
you  will  see  men  in  the  streets  borne  down 
with  bags  of  gold — gold  in  their  pockets,  gold 
on  their  backs,  gold  around  their  necks — 
starving  to  death !"  I  asked  him  what  about 
their  12,000,000  head  of  sheep  ;  and  he  re- 
plied, ' '  why  man,  they  cannot  live  on  mutton 
all  their  lives."  (Laughter.)  At  that  time 
there  were  forty  ships  in  New  York,  and 
twenty  in  Boston,  and  who  can  wonder  at  the 
result.  A  friend  of  mine  sent  me  a  case  of 
buttons  on  account  of  a  Huddersfield  firm, 
and  I  remember  how  I  tried  in  vain  to  sell 
it,  and  how  I  eventually  returned  net  profits 
of  £3  4s.  lOd.      (Laughter.)     I  sent   them 


80  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

those  net  profits,  and  the  only  reply  I  ever 
got  was  a  bill  of  lading  for  a  package  of  cham- 
pagne, saying  that  it  was  the  first  returns 
that  they  had  had.  (Laughter.)  But  the 
trade  and  port  of  Melbourne  now !  I  tell 
you  that  they  speak  for  themselves,  and  need 
nothing  to  be  said  in  their  behalf.  "We  have 
got  warehouses,  we  have  got  gas,  we  have 
got  water,  we  have  got  a  railway— only  a 
short  one  as  yet,  to  be  sure,  two  miles — and 
no  one  has  done  more  than  you,  gentlemen 
of  Liverpool,  for  that  port.  I  assure  you 
that  I  am  proud  of  that  country.  All  Aus- 
tralians must  be  proud  of  it ;  no  other  place 
can  rival  it.  I  once  thought  I  would  go  on 
to  see  if  there  were  a  nicer  place,  and  I  went 
on  to  Java,  Singapore,  and  along  the  Chinese 
shore  for  thousands  of  miles.  I  came  down 
again,  and  met  an  English  merchant  every- 
where. At  every  place  I  found  a  British 
man-of-war,  a  British  consul,  and  a  British 
merchant.  I  went  up  to  Hindostan — I  called 
at  Ceylon — but  found  no  more  flourishing 
place  than  Melbourne  ;  to  Eden,  through  the 
Red  Sea,  through  Lower  Egypt  and  Cairo — 
but  I  found  no  richer  place  than  Melbourne  ; 
so   ran  down   by   Joppa  and  Jerusalem.     I 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  81 

went  all  through  that  country  to  the  Dead 
Sea,  and  then  to  Jericho.  (Roars  of  laugh- 
ter.) I  came  back  again  through  Syria  and 
Palestine — but  I  found  no  such  go-aheadative 
place  as  Melbourne.  I  went  to  Cyprus,  La- 
takia,  Beyrout,  Acre,  through  Tripoli,  through 
the  Dardanelles  on  to  Constantinople — but  I 
found  no  such  place  as  Melbourne.  I  then 
thought  I  would  see  the  great  arena  of  the 
recent  struggle — the  great  battle-field- — and 
down  I  went  to  the  Crimea.  There  was  an 
astonishing  sight !  I  felt  I  would  have  seen 
nothing,  accomplished  nothing,  had  I  not 
gone  to  the  Crimea.  I  was  down  there 
at  the  end  of  April,  but  peace  was  then 
restored.  Every  Englishman  I  met  on  the 
way,  when  I  talked  of  peace  howled  it  down 
again.  They  said  that  England  wanted  time 
to  get  into  fighting  trim — to  have  her  pluck 
fairly  aroused — that  now  it  wasn't,  and  that 
fight  they  would.  But  peace  came.  I  went 
to  Kamiesch  and  Balaklava,  and  I  roamed 
over  those  battle-fields  that  you  have  spoken 
of.  I  saw  the  famed  redoubts  where  the 
Turks  ran  away.  (Laughter.)  I  saw  the 
spot  where  Captain  Nolan  brought  the  order, 
from   whom  I   never   knew — (laughter) — ^to 

4* 


82  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

Lucan  and  asked  him  to  charge.  "  My  God/ 
what  shall  I  charge  ?"  "  There  is  the  enemy, 
and  these  are  my  orders."  I  seemed  to  hear, 
as  I  stood  on  that  now  historic  spot,  solilo- 
quize, "  Well,  here  goes  the  last  of  the  Car- 
digans " — (Laughter) — and  down  they  went. 
I  went  to  the  Alma.  I  passed  on  to  Inkerman, 
where  those  British  Guards,  who  will  always 
guard  your  country,  fought  so  nobly — I  saw 
the  Mamelon — I  entered  Sebastopol — I  cross- 
ed to  the  North  side — I  entered  the  Bal- 
bekbut,  gentlemen,  I  found  no  better  place 
than  Melbourne.  (Laughter.)  I  hurried  on 
through  the  Continent.  I  touched  at  Trieste, 
and  was  landed  between  Austrian  bayonets, 
and  from  the  time  I  landed  until  I  departed 
I  was  signed  and  counter-signed,  checked  and 
counter-checked,  vised  and  re-vised,  up  one 
side  and  down  the  other.  (Laughter.)  Every 
man  seemed  to  regard  me  as  a  thief — an  in- 
cendiary ;  and,  thank  God  !  when  I  got  on 
British  soil,  I  felt  that  Americans  and  Eng- 
lishmen were  one.  I  never  was  so  glad  of  it 
as  when  I  got  to  England,  and  where  I  no 
longer  required  a  passport.  I  feel  proud  as 
an  American,  to  meet  so  many  Englishmen. 
I  have  just  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  have 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  83 

brought  to  you  the  well  wislies  of  a  whole 
host  of  people.  (Cheers.)  I  assure  you,  in 
spite  of  ministerial  dispatches,  editorials,  and 
electioneering  speeches,  the  feeling  in  Ame- 
rica still  is,  that 

"  Though  oceans  roll  between  us — though  our  lands  are  far 

apart, 
Though  rival  mothers  bore  us,  we  are  brothers  still  at  heart ; 
Let  us  think  upon  the  ancient  blood  that  circles  in  our 

veins, 
And  drain  the  cup  of  fellowship  while  yet  a  drop  remains. 
Here's  a  health  to  hallowed  Albion,  the  jewel  of  the  sea, 
And  her  daugliter,  fair  Columbia,  the  hapi)y  and  the  free : 
Long  may  their  sons  their  praises  sing,  friendship's  joyful 

strains, 
And  drain  the  cup  of  fellowship  while  yet  a  drop  remains." 

I  am  wandering  from  the  toast,  but  the  An- 
glo-Saxon race  still  lives  in  the  60,000,000 
of  Americans  and  Englishmen  throughout 
these  countries,  and  though  they  have  been 
spoken  of  as  missionaries  to  the  aboriginal 
races,  yet  I  can  tell  you  that  missionary  en- 
terprise does  not  do  half  as  well  as  British 
cannon.  In  1842,  when  you  broke  down  the 
barriers  of  the  Chinese  empire,  you  did  one 
of  the  best  things  in  the  whole  world  for  these 
nations.  You  broke  down  the  barriers,  and 
then  Jonathan  walked  in,  and  took  his  share 


84  ,  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

of  the  trade.  (Laughter.)  In  conclusion,  I 
will  give  you  a  toast  which  will  bring  you  all 
on  your  feet.  I  am  proud  that  I  am  the  guest 
of  Mr.  Mackay.  (Hear,  hear.)  I  have  lis- 
tened to  his  remarks  with  pleasure,  and  look 
upon  him  not  alone  as  one  of  the  leading 
merchants,  but  one  of  the  most  eloquent  ora- 
tors in  your  land. 

"  Great  in  the  counting-house — peerless  in  debate; 
Who  follows  Mackay,  takes  the  train  too  late." 

(Great  laughter.)  I  propose  to  you  "The 
health  of  Mr.  Mackay,"  and  call  on  you  to  re- 
ceive it  with  a  cheer  that  will  make  the  wel- 
kin ring.     (Applause.) 

The  toast  was  drunk  with  three  times 
three. 

The  chairman,  in  responding  to  the  toast, 
was  received  in  the  most  enthusiastic  man- 
ner. He  said :  Gentlemen,  how  am  I  to 
return  thanks  for  this  ovation  ?  I  am  sure 
we  have  all  been  delighted  with  what  we 
just  heard,  and  I  do  not  know  that  I  ever 
heard  a  more  entertaining,  a  more  practical, 
a  more  useful  and  instructive  speech  than 
that  delivered  by  Mr.  Train,  and  I  hope  the 
enjoyment  has  been  natural Be- 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  85 

fore  I  sit  down,  permit  me  to  propose  the 
health  of  a  branch  of  the  aristocracy — it  is 
The  health  of  the  Hon.  Stuart  Wortley, 
(cheers,)  who  is  a  guest  at  our  table  this  day. 
The  honorable  gentleman  won  golden  honors 
at  Canterbury,  but  since  he  came  of  age,  he 
has  been  in  New  Zealand — the  land  of  his 
adoption.  I  beg  to  propose  the  health  of 
the  honorable  gentleman,  and  may  God  send 
him  every  blessing.     (Applause.) 

The  Hon.  Mr.  Stuart  "Wortley  rose,  and 
was  received  with  loud  applause.  He  said  : 
Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen,  it  is  no  easy 
matter,  after  a  speech,  such  as  that  with 
which  Mr.  Train  has  favored  us,  for  me  to 
address  you.  (Hear,  hear,  and  laughter.)  I 
do  not  know  how  he  may  feel  himself,  but  lis- 
tening to  him  has  quite  put  me  out  of  breath. 
(Laughter.)  He  carried  us  round  the  world 
in  a  shorter  space  of  time  almost  than  one 
could  have  thought  of  it.  We  have  been,  I 
believe,  beginning  at  Melbourne — throughout 
every  part  of  the  known  world,  and  almost 
every  part  of  the  unknown  world,  and  I  con- 
fess that  my  ideas  have  become  so  scattered 
in  consequence,  that  it  is  with  no  small 
difficulty    I    can    collect   them.     (Laughter.) 


86  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

But  I  feel  it  a  peculiar  honor  to  be  here  in 
Liverpool,  and  to  be  in  any  way  associated 
with  an  undertaking,  such  as  that  which 
Messrs.  Jas.  Baines  &  Co.  this  day  are  in- 
augurating, 1  feel  it  to  be  a  sign,  not  only 
that  James  Baines  &  Co.  are  doing  what  may 
turn  out,  I  trust,  to  be  a  great  benefit  to 
them  and  the  colony,  but  I  feel  myself,  as  a 
New  Zealand  colonist,  proud,  because  it 
shows  that  we  are  not  resting  where  we 
we  were — that  it  is  now  worth  the  while  of 
Baines  &  Co.  to  do  what  ten  years  ago 
they  would  not  have  thought  of.  It  shows 
that  we  have  not  lost  the  opportunities  we 
had,  but  that  we  have  done  our  best  to  bring 
our  country  under  notice  for  her  favorable 
advancement,  and  to  deserve  the  efforts 
which  our  English  friends  are  making  for  us. 
(Hear,  hear.)  And,  gentlemen,  the  way  by 
which  a  country  of  that  description  can  be 
made  most  fit  for  enterprises  of  commercial 
magnitude,  is  by  numbering  among  her 
people  such  energetic  characters  as  Mr. 
Train.  (Hear,  hear.)  After  the  sketch  he 
has  given  of  himself,  of  the  way  in  which  he 
started  from  Boston,  when  the  difficulties  of 
Melbourne  appeared  to   be   insurmountable, 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  87 

that  must  appear  sufficiently'  evident.  I 
know  the  position  which  he  has  attained  in 
that  colony,  for  his  name  is  known  beyond 
the  limits  of  Melbourne — known  even  in  Kew 
Zealand.  It  is  by  means  of  characters  of 
that  description,  with  such  a  native  energy, 
and  I  trust  I  may  say,  with  a  dash  of  the 
Yankee  in  them,  that  a  new  country  will 
prosper — and  when  I  say  a  dash  of  the  Yan- 
kee, I  mean  that  which  a  colonist  necessarily 
gathers — a  habit  of  helping  himself,  doing 
everything  for  himself,  and  not  trusting 
to  other  people  to  do  it  for  him.  (Ap- 
plause.)    .... 

(From  the  Liyerpool  Courier.) 

The  speech  of  the  day,  however,  was  that 
of  Mr.  Train,  the  Melbourne  agent  of 
Messrs.  Pilkington  &  Wilson's,  "  White 
Star  "  line  of  clipper  ships.  Mr.  Train  is  an 
American,  of  the  most  thorough  "  go-ahead" 
principles,  and  his  style  of  speaking  and  act- 
ing beautifully  illustrate  the  picturesque  elo- 
quence of  the  "Yankee."  He  dashed  on  at 
a  rate  which  would  have  double  distanced  an 
"  express-train,"  and  in  his  glowing  periods, 
put  a  "  girdle  round  about  the  globe  "  in  half 


88  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

the  time  proposed  by  "  Puck."  In  the  feli- 
citous language  of  the. Hon.  S.  "Wortley,  he 
had  been  "  over  all  of  the  known,  and  most 
of  the  unknown  world,"  and  performed 
the  feat  in  a  style  more  accordant  with  the 
speed  of  light  than  in  unison  with  the  ordi- 
nary modes  of  travel.  He  was  listened  to 
with  breathless  attention,  and  was  rewarded 
by  tremendous  outbursts  of  applause  and 
laughter. 

(From  the  Boston  Gazette.) 

Young  Mr.  Train. — Our  former  towns- 
man, Mr.  G.  F.  Train,  has  recently  made  a 
tremendous  spread-eagle  speech  in  England, 
upon  the  occasion  of  the  reopening  of  trade 
between  Liverpool  and  New  Zealand,  when 
Messrs.  James  Baines  &  Co.  gave  an  enter- 
tainment on  board  of  their  fine  ship,  the 
Great  Tasmania. 

Mr.  Train's  speech  was  received  with  im- 
mense applause,  especially  that  portion  in 
which  he  laid  out  a  geographical  map  of  his 
wondrous  travels,  and  gave  it  as  his  opinion 
that  there  is  no  place  like  Melbourne.  We 
believe  Mr.  Train  was  invited  by  the  Czar  of 
Russia  to  be  present  at  his  coronation. 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  89 


Speech  of  Geo.  Francis  Train,  Esq.,  delivered  at  the  dinner 
given  by  Gen.  John  S.  Tyler,  at  the  Parker  House,  on  the 
anniversary  of  Webster'' s  birthday,  January  l^th,  1858. 

I  KNOW  not  how  to  thank  you,  Mr.  Chair- 
man and  gentlemen,  for  this  most  unex- 
pected testimonial  of  the  well  wishes  which 
you  bear  me.  Your  kind  hearts  and  good 
nature  speak  a  fair  greeting  and  a  cordial 
welcome  home.  Crowd  as  many  pleasant 
words  as  you  can  into  a  paragraph,  and  take 
them  for  my  thanks,  for  the  evening  hour  is 
late — morning  is  close  at  hand,  and  I  am  too 
full  of  enthusiasm,  awakened  by  the  eloquent 
speeches  of  your  governors,  your  mayors, 
your  merchants  and  others  who  have  aroused 
our  cheers  to-night,  to  tax  your  kindness  by 
giving  the  dullest  prose  in  return  for  the 
sweetest  poetry.  I  am  just  from  Washing- 
ton, where,  on  Thursday  night,  I  sat  at  the 
social  board  in  the  shade  of  some  of  the 
statesmen  of  our  land  who  met  to  do  honor 
to  the  poet  Mackay,  who  bears  away  pleas- 
ant memories  of  your  kindness  to  him  while 
in  Boston.  'Twas  a  national  party — Seward 
of  New  York  sat  down  with  Quitman  from 


90  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

Mississippi,  Burlingame  of  Massachusetts  with 
Boyce  of  Carolina,  Parott  of  Kansas  with 
Sherman  of  Ohio,  Shields  of  Minnesota  with 
Ward  of  New  York,  and  so  on  through  the 
Union.  The  East  and  the  West,  the  North 
and  the  South  with  one  accord  extending  a 
welcoming  hand  to  the  warmhearted  English- 
man, who  read  to  us  the  finest  national  poem 
in  our  language,  and  in  such  company  at 
such  a  time  I  was  proud  to  see  the  profound 
respect  given  (to  the  man  whose  natal  morn 
we  celebrate),  when  the  toast  was  ofi'ered  to 
the  memory  of  Daniel  Webster. 

Leaving  Washington  on  Friday,  I  found  in 
New  York,  on  Saturday,  your  kind  note  of 
invitation  to  meet  the  Webster  Marshals  and 
the  Boston  Merchants  ;  and  an  hour  since  I 
landed  in  your  city  and  here  I  am  to  thank 
you  for  this  most  generous  welcome  home. 


"  I  am  with  you  once  again,  my  friends, 
No  more  my  footsteps  roam. 
"Where  it  began,  my  journey  ends, 
Amid  the  scenes  of  home. 
No  other  climes  has  skies  so  blue, 
Or  streams  so  wide  and  clear. 
And  where  are  hearts  so  warm  and  true 
As  those  that  greet  me  here  ? 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  91 

Since  last  with  spirits  wild  and  free 

I  pressed  my  native  strand, 

I've  wandered  many  miles  at  sea 

And  many  miles  on  land  ; 

I've  seen  fair  cities  of  tiie  earth 

"With  rude  commotion  torn, 

"Which  taught  me  how  to  ])nze  the  worth 

Of  this  where  I  was  born  !"     (Applause.) 

Five  years  have  flown  away  since  the 
Webster  Marshals  met  on  a  similar  occasion 
— more  than  five  years  since  the  great  man 
died.  Five  years  have  tolled  their  knell 
since  the  world  commenced  to  mourn  o'er 
his  departure,  to  the  world  immortal.  We 
meet  to-night  to  do  honor  to  the  memory  of 
Daniel  Webster.  We  loved  him  while  living 
— we  cannot  forget  him  now  that  he  is  dead. 
His  name  is  in  the  school-books,  and  genera- 
tions will  keep  it  ever  green.  "  His  requiem 
is  the  ocean's  roar — ^his  trust  the  nation's 
heart." 

You  ask  me,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  give  an  ac- 
count of  my  stewardship  during  my  long  ab- 
sence. Do  you  forget  the  hour?  Do  you 
not  see  around  you  a  score  of  eloquent 
speakers  loaded  to  the  muzzle,  ready  to  be 
discharged?  I  am  in  the  ranks,  you  are 
general  here,  the  command  is  peremptory.     I 


92  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

obey  orders  if  I  break  owners.  Look  at  the 
clock  and  wind  me  up  when  you  cease  to  be 
interested.     (Laughter.) 

'Tis  just  five  years  ago  since  I  shook  hands 
with  you  all,  bade  good  bye  to  my  native 
land',  passed  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  the  African 
cape,  and  landed  at  Melbourne — that  bourne 
from  which  it  was  said  no  traveller  returns — 
(it  should  have  been  no  returns  for  consign- 
ments)— and  since  then  I  have  been  studying 
practical  geography  while  whirling  around 
and  over  the  world. 

The  clipper  ship,  the  screw  steamer,  the 
Arab  horse,  the  Egyptian  dromedary,  the 
Syrian  mule,  and  the  Asiatic  donkey  have 
assisted  as  a  kind  of  galvanic  battery  with 
which  I  have  kept  up  a  kind  of  telegraphic 
communication  between  the  Old  W'orld  and 
the  New  ;  but  I  return  once  more  to  tell  you 
that  I  have  found  nothing,  so  fair,  so  grand, 
so  noble,  as  my  native  land,  and  that  when 
gazing  upon  the  dark  faces  and  darker  intel- 
lects of  the  native  tribes,  the  words  of  that 
great  statesman  were  ever  ringing  in  my 
ear,  "  Thank  God,  I  am  an  American  .'"  (Ap- 
plause.) 

From  the  Atlantic  to  the  Indian  Ocean, 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  93 

from  the  South  Sea  to  the  Pacific,  wherever 
I  have  marked  the  habits  and  customs  of  the 
world,  these  words  were  on  my  lips.  In  New 
Holland,  whose  natives,  like  the  country, 
seem  upside  down — where  the  swans  are  all 
black,  the  flowers  have  no  odor,  and  the 
birds  no  song — where  the  trees  shed  their 
bark  instead  of  their  leaves,  and  the  cherry- 
stones grow  on  the  outside  ;  where  'tis  cold 
in  summer  and  hot  in  winter,  and  the  stem 
of  the  pear  grows  on  the  big  end ;  where,  as 
Sydney  Smith  says,  there  is  an  animal  with  a 
head  like  a  hare,  a  body  like  a  deer,  and  a 
tail  like  a  bed-post,  taking  three  skips  to  a 
mile  (laughter),  and  nothing  else  like  other 
climes  ;  throughout  the  Australian  gold-fields, 
from  Maryborough  to  Tarrangower,  from 
Burra  Burra  to  Wooloomooloo,  steaming 
through  Bass's  Straits  in  the  Golden  Age,  or 
being  entertained  in  the  Governor's  palace  at 
Sydney  ;  in  the  orange  groves  of  Parram- 
matta,  or  on  the  banks  of  Botany  Bay,  where 
a  small  white  slab  spoke  of  La  Perouse,  the 
French  navigator,  who  lost  his  life  before 
Cook  the  Englishman  made  the  land — 
throughout  all  these  lands  I  looked  at  the 
poor  miserable  natives,  a  kind  of  cross  be- 


94  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

tween  a  boot-jack  and  an  ourang-outang, 
producing  the  lowest  specimen  of  mankind  : 
I  reflected  upon  the  degraded  state  of  those 
races,  and  the  electric  words  of  that  great 
man  whose  picture  looks  so  severely  in  the 
face  from  yonder  wall  came  into  mind, 
'^  Thank  God,  lam  an  American  f^  (-Ap- 
plause.) 

'Twas  the  same  in  the  Southern  Ocean ; 
standing  on  the  South  Head,  at  the  rock- 
bound  gateway  at  Port  Jackson,  gazing  sea- 
ward over  the  French  colony  of  New  Cale- 
donia— over  the  Red  Indians  of  Few  Zea- 
land— running  up  the  Derwent  to  Hobart- 
town — through  the  Tasmanian  forests,  where 
Sir  John  Franklin  first  lost  his  way,  before 
on  the  other  side  of  the  world  he  lost  it  to 
return  no  more  forever  ;  over  to  Launceston, 
where  the  convicts'  chains  grated  on  my  ear, 
and  some  half  a  dozen  murderers  were  swing- 
ing off  together,  I  shuddered  as  I  looked, 
and  observing  the  shrunk  and  shrivelled  abo- 
riginals of  Yan  Diemen's  land  on  Flindar's 
Island,  who,  although  so  near  the  Austrahan 
borders,  never  saw 

"  The  boomerang,  which  the  Australian  throws, 
Cut  its  own  circle  and  hit  you  on  the  nose." 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  95 

Nor  had  they  ingenuity  enough  to  make  a 
canoe !  their  brain  smaller  than  that  of  emu 
and  kangaroo — I  could  but  remember  the 
genius  of  my  countrymen,  and  say  with 
Webster:  '^  Thank  God,  I  am  an  Ameri- 
can /" 

Onward,  past  King's  Island — where  your 
clippers  Whistler  and  Flying  Arrow  were 
dismasted — past  Otway  and  Northumberland 
— into  the  Straits  of  Sunda — at  Anger  and 
Batavia — where  I  luxuriated  in  the  mangos- 
tine,  the  banana,  the  masgar  and  the  delicious 
fruits  of  Java — further  on  to  Buitenzorg, 
where  I  saw  the  tomb  of  Lady  Raffles,  and 
graves  that  were  fragrant  with  incense — 
where  the  cassowary  and  the  tiger  live  and  die 
in  the  jungle  ;  but  with  all  the  beauty  of  the 
birds  and  beasts — with  all  the  attractions  of 
the  fruits  and  odors  of  the  flowers — with  all 
the  native  grandeur  of  that  Eastern  Paradise,  I 
noticed  the  primitive  cultivation  of  the  Malay, 
and  the  buffalo  teams  of  the  Javanese — saw 
that  terrible  weapon,  the  kriss,  observed  the 
cloudy  mind  of  this  old-fashioned  race,  and 
remembering  my  native  land,  I  said,  "  Thank 
God,  I  am  an  American  /  " 

Then  I  hurried  on,  past  Rajah  Brooks  in 


96  SPREAD-EAGLEISM.. 

his  colony  of  Sarawak  in  Borneo  ;  stopped  to 
see  the  tin  mines  of  Banca,  owned  by  the 
brother  of  the  King  of  Holland ;  sang  Hail 
Columbia  when  I  saw  the  American  flag  at 
Sumatra  ;  paid  my  respects  to  the  Governor 
of  Singapore,  and  then  hurrah  for  China,  with 
all  the  ports  from  Hong.  Kong  to  the  Hoang- 
Ho — from  the  Yang-tze-kang  to  Foo-chow- 
foo — all  along  the  Asiatic  shore,  observing 
everybody  and  everything.  I  saw  your  beau- 
tiful clippers  taking  in  the  silks  and  tea.  I 
saw  the  rice-fields  irrigated  to  the  mountain 
top,  the  rich  mormo,  the  mulberry  tree,  and 
the  tea  districts  ;  the  armed  opium-clippers 
at  Woosung,  and  the  missionary  village  at 
Shanghae,  and  running  down  over  Commo- 
dore Perry's  track  by  Japan,  Chusan,  and 
Formora,  with  monsoons,  typhoons  and  water 
spouts  for  companions,  I  thought  of  the  won- 
derful government  that  could  bind  together 
400,000,000  of  people,  people  who  were  civil- 
ized when  our  ancestors  were  savages,  who 
understood  the  art  of  making  gunpowder — 
printing  on  wood — the  power  of  the  magnet 
and  the  mariner's  compass  ;  a  nation  of  navi- 
gators and  actors  ;  the  most  industrious  race 
on  the  face  of  the  globe.     I  gave  them  credit 


w. 


.w^-^y^"mi . 


\^~x  ■'^^^^^'  *'■ 


ft; 


lis.:,- 


^'J^emngeyery thing  even  to  faaanin^  their  facesf^'^^^ 

i^sl^i^T^taking  hands  with  ttiemselyes  instead  of 

/S^j^w-^-GOmmenGing  the;  hook 

^'^:ieadiDg  up  %e  page- instead  of  .across^ — puir 

^^g  ejes  on  ttieir  trunks— -^wearing  tales  two  ^^^'^0^^ 

<  ^ards    long— -eating  with    chopsticks^— eosa- Qi^< ^^' s/f 

'jaateaeing  t^^  with  the  des&ert  and  v:>^-jj^ 

.;i^ndiiig  with  the  -soup^usingsmaU:  pieces  of   |^2r^-*! 

';;^issUe  paper  far  napkins,  and  bringing  their  ^S^f  i  ■ 

I'  Mm&  on  in  tea  cups,  hot.     I  rdbserved  all  these  ^;^^l^l?^iiC!>^ 

-  ^peculiarities,  and  gave  theni  every  credit  for^.'i^  '  ' 

;/;;^onor  and  inte^ity  in  their  mereantiie  tr^ns- 

;  ;jx)tions,  their  wcmderful  industry,  their  care    r, 

:^  father  and  another,     put  when  I  .  looked^;  j 

>.^und  in  vain  to  find  the  footpint  of  Anglo^^  ^^^ 

l^^axoa  progress^  no  telegrams,  no  railways,  t^ 

'  ■  ^  jsteamhoatsv  how;  could  I  ielp  repeating  ;:- 

iliwith  yon  great  man,  %JM??^  ^o<:^,  /  mn  €mW 

■Mm^icmf' .  -(Cheers.). ^^i^S^mm'W^P^&i^--' 
:t:.^^ea^ars  later,  Ajnei^ci^  >. 

.;^ay  he  drinking  sherry  cobblers,  and  singing  / 

:-^axon  songs  at  Pekin.  -'y:^;y}^^B>-Oc?^^^$^^''^:.. 
V    '^was  the  same  in  Hindostan.     I  saw  the^ 
fSepoy  army,  I  talked  with  Lord  Canning  and     '.. 
jord  palhpusie,  and  was  disgusted  with  the 


;■■-:<: 


96  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

his  colony  of  Sarawak  in  Borneo  :  stopped  to 
see  the  tin  mines  of  Banca,  owned  by  the 
brother  of  the  King  of  Holland ;  sang  Hail 
Columbia  when  I  saw  the  American  flag  at 
Sumatra  ;  paid  my  respects  to  the  Governor 
of  Singapore,  and  then  hurrah  for  China,  with 
all  the  ports  from  Hong  Kong  to  the  Hoang- 
Ho — from  the  Yang-tze-kang  to  Foo-chow- 
foo — all  along  the  Asiatic  shore,  observing 
everybody  and  everything.  I  saw  your  beau- 
tiful clippers  taking  in  the  silks  and  tea.  I 
saw  the  rice-fields  irrigated  to  the  mountain 
top,  the  rich  mormo,  the  mulberry  tree,  and 
the  tea  districts  ;  the  armed  opium-clippers 
at  Woosung,  and  the  missionary  village  at 
Shanghae,  and  running  down  over  Commo- 
dore Perry's  track  by  Japan,  Chusan,  and 
Formora,  with  monsoons,  typhoons  and  water 
spouts  for  companions,  I  thought  of  the  won- 
derful government  that  could  bind  together 
400,000,000  of  people,  people  who  were  civil- 
ized when  our  ancestors  were  savages,  who 
understood  the  art  of  making  gunpowder — 
printing  on  wood — the  power  of  the  magnet 
and  the  mariner's  compass  ;  a  nation  of  navi- 
gators and  actors  ;  the  most  industrious  race 
on  the  face  of  the  globe.     I  gave  them  credit 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  97 

for  all  this  ;  laughed  at  their  funny  ways,  re- 
versing everything  even  to  fanning  their  faces 
and  scratching  their  heads — (loud  laughter.) 
— shaking  hands  with  themselves  instead  of 
you — commencing  the  book  at  the  end — 
reading  up  the  page  instead  of  across — put- 
ting eyes  on  their  trunks — wearing  tales  two 
yards  long — eating  with  chopsticks — com- 
mencing their  dinner  with  the  dessert  and 
ending  with  the  soup — using  small  pieces  of 
tissue  paper  for  napkins,  and  bringing  their 
wine  on  in  tea  cups,  hot.  I  observed  all  these 
peculiarities,  and  gave  them  every  credit  for 
honor  and  integrity  in  their  mercantile  trans- 
actions, their  wonderful  industry,  their  care 
of  father  and  mother.  But  when  I  looked 
round  in  vain  to  find  the  footprint  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  progress,  no  telegraphs,  no  railways, 
no  steamboats,  how  could  I  help  repeating 
with  yon  great  man,  ''  Thank  God,  I  am  an 
AmericanP^     (Cheers.) 

Ten  years  later,  Americans  and  Englishmen 
may  be  drinking  sherry  cobblers,  and  singing 
Saxon  songs  at  Pekin. 

'Twas  the  same  in  Hindostan.  I  saw  the 
Sepoy  army,  I  talked  with  Lord  Canning  and 
Lord  Dalhousie,  and  was  disgusted  with  the 


98  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

red  tapeism  of  the  Honorable  East  India 
Company.  The  Punjaub  horsemen  were 
there  and  Burmese  and  Klings,  Hindoos  and 
Brahmins,  a  hundred  thousand  men.  But  I 
sickened  at  the  sight  of  adjutant  and  carrion 
kites  that  hover  round  the  dead  upon  the 
banks  of  the  Ganges.  I  saw  the  bodies  float- 
ing on  the  river,  a  species  of  human  shrimp 
trap.  I  noticed  the  disgusting  tortures  of 
their  Hindoo  worship,  saw  their  indigo  plant 
and  their  opium  cultivation.  But  my  thoughts 
wandered  far  away  from  the  land  of  Robert 
Clive  and  Warren  Hastings,  from  the  Black 
Hole  and  Surah-ul-Dowlah,  to  the  land  of  the 
brave  and  the  home  of  the  free.  I  remem- 
bered that  I  was  born  in  the  shade  of  Faneuil 
Hall  and  said,  "  Thank  God,  I  am  an  Ameri- 
can V     (Loud  applause.) 

It  was  the  same  in  Ceylon  with  the  Singal- 
ese,  in  Africa  with  the  Nubians  and  Arabs, 
from  the  Bed  Sea  to  the  Mediterranean,  from 
Moses  in  the  bulrushes  to  Noah  on  Ararat ; 
looking  at  those  monuments  of  barbarism 
and  man's  vanity,  the  pyramids,  I  wondered 
how  Pompey's  pillar  was  raised,  thought 
Cleopatra's  the  largest  needle  known,  saw 
Said  Pacha  review  his  Egyptian   army,  was 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  99 

hunted  out  of  the  seraglio  gardens  for  daring 
to  look  into  the  harem  by  a  lot  of  demons 
who  seemed  proud  to  think  that  they  were 
neither  man  nor  woman,  stepped  out  of  Egypt 
into  Palestine,  ran  down  to  the  Crimea,  and 
back  to  Constantinople,  where  the  Sultan, 
with  national  pride,  pointed  to  his  splendid 
regiments  of  Turkish  troops,  and  asked  if  we 
had  anything  like  them  over  the  sea.  I  could 
but  smile,  for  I  remembered  our  standing 
army  of  a  million  of  men,  the  American  mili- 
tia, the  Massachusetts  militia,  the  soldiers  of 
my  native  city,  so  many  of  whose  officers 
have  gladdened  our  hearts  at  the  festive  board 
to-night.  (Applause.)  I  looked  at  the 
Turkish  army  ;  reflected  upon  the  down-trod- 
den land  of  the  Moslem,  where  the  harem 
eats  up  the  taxes  of  the  state,  and  steaming 
out  of  the  Bosphorus,  I  could  but  remark, 
"  Thank  God,  I  am  an  American!'''  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Though  speaking  rapidly,  my  time  is  up, 
and  yet  I  have  not  told  half  the  story.  When 
a  man  makes  a  point  he  should  sit  down,  but 
I  lack  judgment  in  such  things.  When  you 
tell  me  to  go  on,  I  think  you  mean  it,  and  as 
we  are  not  talking  against  time  as  they  do  in 


100  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

Congress,  I  must  hurry  along  the  course,  stop 
a  moment  in  Italy,  to  look  at  the  poor  priest- 
ridden  country,  contemplate  the  land  of 
Columbus,  of  Marco  Polo  and  of  Tasso,  and 
hasten  on  through  all  the  European  lands — 
from  Civita  Yecchia  to  the  Cattegat,  from 
Gratz  to  Helsingfors,  from  Tipperary  to  Nijni 
Novgorod,  from  the  Shagaret  to  Wiesbaden, 
from  Cornhill  to  Cairo,  from  Moscow  to  Man- 
tua— looking  sharp  at  everything,  seeing  the 
Revolution  in  the  faces  of  the  people,  observ- 
ing the  calm  before  the  tempest,  seeing  hu- 
manity by  the  wholesale,  and  noticing  the 
proportion  that  runs  through  nature.  Re- 
marking all  this,  how  often  have  I  compared 
my  native  land  with  those  far-off  countries  ; 
thought  of  our  free  schools,  our  free  church, 
our  broad  domain — I  thought  of  you,  Gene- 
ral, and  of  our  brave  and  steadfast  militia, 
the  guardians  of  the  soil,  our  beautiful  wonaen 
and  our  manly  men,  and  involuntarily  said 
with  the  great-  statesman  whose  memory  we 
have  honored  to-night,  * '  Thank  God,  I  am  an 
American .'" 

If  other  nations  are  so  proud  of  their  land, 
we  have  a  right  to  speak  of  ours.  Mackay 
uses  strong  language  for  Brother  Jonathan  : 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  101 

"  I  feel  the  promptings  of  my  youth 
That  urge  me  evermore 
To  spread  my  name — my  race — my  fame 
From  shore  to  furthest  shore. 
I  feel  the  lightnings  in  my  blood, 
The  thunders  in  my  hand, 
And  I  must  worTc  my  destiny. 
Whoever  may  withstand," 

(Loud  applause.) 

Excelsior  is  our  motto.  Industry  and 
honesty,  our  companions,  and  everlasting 
Union  in  our  land,  make  a  Siamese  twin 
bond  with  every  State.  My  namesake  has 
alluded  to  the  great  names  that  once  adorned 
our  Senate.  Carolina,  Kentucky,  and  Massa- 
chusetts weep  for  their  sons  who  have  shed 
such  a  haJlo  of  fame  around  the  flag  we  love 
so  well. 

"  Lo,  Carolina  mourns  her  steadfast  pine 

Which  like  a  mainmast  towered  above  the  realm, 
And  Ashland  hears  no  more  that  voice  divine 

From  out  the  branches  of  her  forest  elm. 
Now  Marshfield's  giant  oak,  whose  snowy  brow 

Oft  turned  the  ocean  tempest  from  the  west, 
Lies  on  the  shore  he  guarded  long,  and  now 

Our  startled  eagle  knows  not  where  to  rest." 

Once  more,  General,  I  thank  you  for  your 
kind  words,  and  you,  gentlemen,  for  your 
warm  welcome  ;  your  applause  thrills  through 


102  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

my  blood,  and  in  accepting  it  I  can  but  say, 
"  Thank  God,  I  am  an  American  /"   (Cheers.) 


•  • » 


(From  the  London  Times.) 

ANNIVERSARY  OF  AMERICAN  INDEPEN- 
DENCE. 

The  82d  anniversary  of  the  Declaration  of 
the  independence  of  the  United  States  was 
celebrated  by  a  banquet  held  last  night  at 
the  London  Tavern,  and  attended  by  about 
150  American  gentlemen  resident  in  this  me- 
tropolis. The  dinner  took  place  under  the 
auspices  of  the  American  Association,  a  So- 
ciety recently  established  in  London,  for  the 
benefit  of  citizens  of  the  States  while  sojourn- 
ing in  this  country.  The  banquet  was  presided 
over  by  General  Robert  B.  Campbell,  United 
States  Consul  at  London,  on  whose  right  sat 
Mr.  Dallas,  the  American  Minister ;  and 
among  the  company  were — Mr.  J.  R.  Croskey, 
Captain  Mangles,  M.P.,  Mr.  R.  W.  Kennard, 
Dr.  Charles  Mackay,  Mr.  M.  Marshall,  Mr.  P. 
N.  Dallas,  Mr.  Benjamin  Moran,  Assistant- 
Secretary  of  American  Legation,  Mr.  "W.L. 


SPEEAD-EAGLEISM.  103 

Hurlbut,  Mr.  C.  E.  Morrell,  Mr. '  Edward 
Noyce  Browne,  Dr.  Ballard,  Mr.  George  F. 
Train,  Mr.  Thornton  Hunt,  Mr.  Whitehead, 
of  New  York,  Dr.  Holland,  Mr.  F.  L.  Camp- 
bell, Mr.  John  G.  Elsey,  Mr.  William  Milli- 
ken,  Mr.  Henry  Kennard,  Mr.  Collie  Grattan, 
Mr.  John  P.  Kennard,  Rev.  G.  A.  Herklotz, 
Mr.  James  Samuel,  etc.,  etc. 

Letters  of  apology  for  non-attendance  were 
received  from  the  Hon.  James  T.  Mason, 
American  Plenipotentiary  to  the  Court  of 
France,  from  the  principal  American  Consuls 
in  the  United  Kingdom,  from  Mr,  George  Pea- 
body,  the  Right  Hon.  Milner  Gibson,  and 
others.  The  room  was  tastefully  decorated 
with  the  star-spangled  banner  and  the  union- 
jack,  and  over  the  President's  table  himg 
portraits  of  General  and  Lady  Washington, 
and  also  an  excellent  likeness  of  Queen  Yic- 
toria,  graciously  lent  by  her  Majesty  for  the 
occasion.  A  group  of  ladies  occupied  the 
gallery  after  the  dinner 

SPEECH  AT  THE  LONDON  TAVERN,  JULY  5,  1858. 

"  Young  America  and  Old  England — di- 
vided in  1776,  united  in  1858."  Proposed 
by  Robert  William  Kennard,  Esq.,  of  Eng- 


104  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

land  ;  responded  to  by  George  Francis  Train, 
Esq.,  of  America,  as  follows  : 

Not  to  respond  to  such  a  sentiment,  is  not 
to  appreciate  it ;  and  not  to  appreciate  it,  is 
to  be  unconscious  of  its  sterling  merits,  and 
your  courtesy,  Mr.  Chairman,  in  giving  me 
such  a  golden  opportunity  to  tell  you  how 
proud  I  am  to  meet  around  this  social  board 
so  many  of  my  fellow-countrymen  ;  how  proud 
I  am  to  see  with  us  so  many  loyal  Eng- 
lishmen— Englishmen  and  Americans  alike 
charmed  by  the  large-hearted  eloquence 
of  those  who  have  so  happily  entertained 
us.  No  American,  no  Englishman  could 
remain  silent  when  his  name  is  associated 
with  a  toast  opening  so  wide,  so  generous  a 
field. 

'Tis  difficult  to  decide  where  to  take  it  up 
or  where  to  drop  it.  Perhaps,  as  happy 
speeches  and  pleasant  words  will  be  the  order 
of  our  mutual  admiration  society — for  most 
societies  of  this  nature  are  of  that  stamp — 
a  good-natured  comparison  between  our  re- 
spective countries  will  be  acceptable. 

Young  America  desires  to  "make  a  clean 
breast  of  it,"  and  tell  Old  England  a  few 
plain  facts. 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  105 

America  is  misrepresented  in  England — 
"  Hear  me  for  my  cause,"  and  I  will  tell  yon 
how  unfair  it  is,  in  our  day  and  generation, 
for  Englishmen  to  continue  to  judge  Ameri- 
cans by  the  records  of  the  police  court. 

Natural  ties  should  make  us  natural  allies 
— Young  America  is  not  more  a  muling 
puling  babe  than  England  is  a  "  lean  and 
slippered  pantaloon  " — the  growing  States 
composing  our  Federal  Union,  are  not  more 
coarse  pieces  of  raw  cotton  woven  into  a  wind- 
ing-sheet, than  the  colonies  and  kingdoms  of 
the  British  Empire  are  patches  on  a  thread- 
bare garment.  As  London  is  an  aggregation 
of  small  towns  and  villages,  so  America  is  a 
union  of  individual  states.     (Applause.) 

Think  well  of  a  man,  and  you  will  not  easily 
be  persuaded  that  he  is  wrong  ;  prejudge, 
and  you  will  always  suspect  him.  The  same 
applies  in  our  estimate  of  nations. 

Pervert  history,  misrepresent  fact,  and  you 
poison  the  growing  mind — the  scarred  sap- 
ling makes  the  crooked  oak.  For  a  long 
time,  Americans  have  been  caricatured  by 
the  English  press,  and  when  we  shrink  at  the 
ridicule,  we  are  called  a  thin-skinned  people. 
Punch  follows  the  Times — both  are  household 

6* 


106  SPREAD  -E  AGLEISM. 

gods  ;  the  people  laugh  and  weep   as  their 
oracles  dictate. 

Here  is  their  picture  of  a  live  American : — 
Slouched  hat — lank  hair — sallow  face — striped 
pantaloons — swallow-tail  coat — quid  in  mouth 
— whittling  a  stick — no  spittoon  on  floor 
— brandy  smasher  on  table — bowie-knife  and 
parish  tooth-brush  in  pocket — and  revolver 
in  belt.  (Laughter.)  Add  a  p'eculiar  nasal 
twang,  and  place  his  feet  on  the  mantel-piece, 
and  you  have  the  type  of  my  poor  fellow- 
countryman  as  portrayed  to  the  good  people 
of  England — a  caricature  even  worse  than  the 
Frenchman's  burlesque  of  "  John  Bull." 
(Loud  laughter,  and  no,  no.) 

One  man  is  surprised  that  he  speaks  such 
good  English,  another  that  his  complexion  is 
so  fair,  while  a  third  is  astonished  that  his 
leg  is  not  set  in  the  middle  of  his  foot,  and 
that  his  hair,  African  like,  does  not  take  root 
and  grow  again  like  the  banyan  tree.  (Laugh- 
ter.) As  sands  make  mountains,  drops 
oceans,  so  do  little  cuts  of  ridicule  create 
large  wounds  of  irritation.  Old  customs,  like 
old  shoes,  wear  too  easily 'to  be  readily  thrown 
aside.  Gowns,  wigs,  queues,  the  Lord  Mayor's 
shows  are  prejudices  too  deep  rooted  to  be 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  107 

lightly -cast  off.  So  this  constant  misrepre- 
sentation of  everything  American  settles  in 
the  mind  of  the  child,  and  manhood  refuses  to 
dispel  it.  Neglected  in  infancy,  oppressed  in 
youth,  ridiculed  in  manhood,  yet  we  are  ac- 
cused of  over-sensitiveness,  of  ingratitude, 
our  faults  exaggerated,  but  our  virtues  unex- 
tolled.  This  is  not  right.  America  and  Eng- 
land must  be  friends  or  foes — like  married 
life,  either  heaven  or  hell :  there  is  no  half 
vsray. 

Free  seas — free  thought — free  speech — free 
trade — free  press  are  our  common  heritage  : 
both  are  free  in  body — ^free  in  mind.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Steam,  gas,  and  electricity  are  the  "Li- 
berty, Equality,  and  Fraternity"  that  mark 
the  Anglo-American  mind.  The  steam-whis- 
tle frights  the  owls  that  wink  and  doze  the 
livelong  day — the  gas-light  scares  away  the 
bats  and  rats  of  superstition  and  bigotry — 
while  electricity  sweeps  off  the  cobwebs,  the 
filth  and  rubbish  of  ignorance  weighed  down 
with  wealth  and  vanity  propped  with  titles. 
Knowledge  is  the  antagonist  of  intolerance. 
Four  score  years  and  two  have  gone  since 
mother  and  daughter  separated,      Those  who 


108  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

fought  have  passed  away^the  next  genera- 
tion have  also  departed,  and  the  next  are 
grey-haired  men.  Why  should  those  who 
come  later,  our  fathers,  ourselves,  our  child- 
ren keep  alive  the  old  sore  ?  Days  are  rip- 
ples in  life's  sea — years,  its  heavy  swells — 
while  centuries  are  the  storm-waves  that  wash 
away  all  living  things.  Almost  a  century  has 
gone — steamships  arrive  and  depart  as  regu- 
larly as  the  day  ;  yet  while  America  knows 
England,  how  little  does  England  know  of 
America.  The  child  never  forgets  the  associ- 
ations of  youth  ;  but  the  parent  sees  the  child 
married,  and  knows  less  of  its  future  life. 

'Tis  only  a  week  of  generations  since  the 
pilgrims  landed — less  than  a  fortnight  of  them 
since  Columbus  crossed  the  Atlantic — that 
Mediterranean  of  the  West — in  an  undecked 
boat.  Time  and  tide  are  ever  moving,  and 
the  mind  of  man  has  gone  on  apace. 

The  age  of  thought — the  age  of  printing — 
the  age  of  steam — the  age  of  electricity  is 
upon  us.  Letters  are  copied  by  press,  not 
by  hand,  and  chapters  of  the  Bible  can  be 
i^ent  from  missionary  at  North  Pole  to  hea- 
then at  South  in  minutes  by  the  magnetic 
wire.     The  sap  has  ceased  to  flow  from  the 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  109 

Asiatic  tree  of  civilization  :  bamboo  and  twine 
are  still  the  Chinaman's  diamonds.  The  ship- 
ment of  bishops,  tracts,  missionaries  in  the 
cabin,  while  you  send  opium,  cannon  balls, 
gunpowder,  and  rum,  in  the  hold,  is  as  absurd 
as  the  Malthusian  doctrine,  that  the  evils  of 
society  arise  from  pressure  of  population  on 
means  of  subsistence.  The  Christian  child 
knows  more  than  the  aged  barbarian.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Ideas — not  words,  telegrams — not  epistles, 
action — not  talk,  mark  our  day. 

Too  much  reverence  for  the  past  blinds 
judgment,  hampers  independence,  circum- 
scribes originality.  English  statesmen  of  the 
Palmerstonian  school,  ever  looking  over  the 
shoulder,  think  they  can  still  drown  America 
in  a  drop  of  ink,  and  crush  her  with  a  wafer. 
(Laughter.) 

Old  England,  not  contented  with  warring 
with  six  hundred  millions  of  Buddah-believ- 
ing,  Confucius-following  Asiatics,  thinks  she 
can  distract  the  nation's  mind  from  channel 
politics  by  secretly  ordering  a  dozen  or  two 
ships  overhauled  belonging  to  her  blood-rela- 
tions, the  Americans.  Apologizing  to  a  man 
for  slapping  him  in  the  face  may  pacify  the 


110  SPREAD-15  AGLEISM. 

affronted  ;  but  does  not  remove  the  affront. 
If  there  were  one  drop  of  sense  in  the  deluge 
of  diplomatic  words,  we  might  hope  to  pluck 
the  "  nettle  danger  from  out  the  flower 
safety."  Statesmen  should  not  forget  that 
when  JEsop's  eagle  stole  the  flesh  from  the 
altar,  the  adhering  coal  destroyed  the  nest  of 
the  royal  bird. 

'Tis  time  that  the  people  of  England  should 
know  the  people  of  America.  They  are  tired 
of  seeing  the  diplomatic  viper  bite  the  diplo- 
matic file.  Three  principles  govern  man — 
Reason,  Love,  and  Force.  Let  us  try  the  for- 
mer two,  we  have  had  already  too  much  of  the 
latter.  England  may  deal  with  Europe,  Asia, 
and  Africa  as  she  likes — but  she  must  remem- 
ber that  America  is  a  chip  of  the  old  block. 
(Hear,  hear.) 

India,  Australia,  Gibraltar,  Malta,  Aden, 
Perim  are  some  of  the  stolen  gems  that  orna- 
ment the  British  Crown.  (No,  no.)  If  then 
Columbia  casts  an  admiring  eye  towards 
Cuba,  Central  America,  Mexico,  the  Sand- 
wich Islands,  'tis  only  walking  in  the  foot- 
prints of  her  illustrious  predecessor.  (Loud 
laughter.)  England  is  the  king  of  Filibus- 
ters— (Hengist  and  Horsa,  the    Saxon   rob- 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  Ill 

bers,  were  her  models),  America  thus  far  is 
but  a  petty  prince  ;  but  when  they  fiUbus- 
ter  between  themselves,  the  Devil  will  be  the 
standard-bearer. 

British  ideas  are  culminating  in  America.  Is 
England  fearful  that  the  law  of  gravitation 
applies  to  nations  ? — that  the  tree  decays 
when  the  scion  grows  old — that  a  small  leak 
neglected,  sinks  the  large  ship  ? 

America,  remote  from  the  extremes  of  effe- 
minacy and  barbarism — the  shackles  of  des- 
potism and  the  licentiousness  of  anarchy — 
undebased  by  abject  poverty  and  uncorrupted 
by  luxurious  indulgences— believing  in  that 
friendship  which  multiplies  joy  and  divides 
grief — America,  once  the  hunting-ground  of 
the  savage  and  home  of  the  wild  beast — with 
unborn  navies  in  her  forests  and  in  her  iron 
mines — now  peopled  by  "  a  deluge  of  men 
driven  by  the  hand  of  God ": — America,  a 
joint  stock  company  of  independent  states — 
without  a  decayed  timber  in  her  constitutional 
ship,  gazing  on  the  heaven-kissing  monu- 
ments that  mark  her  battle  grounds — her 
pyramid  of  strength  just  commencing — the 
nation's  mind  ever  working,  inventing,  dis- 
covering, creating ;  America  may  look  upon 


112  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

Continental  Europe,  with  her  monotonous 
treadmill  of  unrewarded  labor,  with  her  de- 
caying soil  and  tottering  institutions  ;  and  so 
long  as  liberty  and  humanity  continue  the 
prey  of  despotism  and  cruelty,  say  to  her  that 
might  makes  right  only  when  justice  and 
mercy  are  observed,  that  war  is  bankrupt — a 
hopeless  insolvent,  not  even  worthy  of  a  third- 
class  certificate — that  though  Greeks,  Romans, 
Persians,  Goths,  Yandals,  Norsemen,  Saxons, 
Iformans,  waded  through  seas  of  blood,  civil- 
ized America  and  civilized  England  disdain 
to  follow  so  barbaric  an  example.  Thank  God, 
instinct  teaches  the  lion  and  the  eagle  not 
to  prey  upon  each  other !     (Cheers.) 

The  quadruped-walking — hand-looming — 
stone-rolling  East  cannot  much  longer  with- 
stand the  terrible  energy  of  the  wheel-turn- 
ing, electricity-talking,  steam-acting  West. 
In  the  former,  labor  makes  man  a  slave — in 
the  latter,  man  subjects  labor.  In  Europe, 
nature  is  subservient  to  man — in  Asia,  man 
is  subservient  to  nature.  The  whirl  of  the 
spindle — the  industrious  murmur  of  the 
boiler — the  steady  groan  of  the  printing- 
press,  indicate  in  the  smoke  and  din  of  action 
that  air  and  water,  fire,  steam,  and  electricity 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  113 

are  chained  to  man's  will,  and  must  obey  the 
laws  of  mind  over  matter.     (Applause.) 

The  darkness  of  night,  the  light  of  day, 
gaseous  fluids,  chemical  attraction,  tena- 
city, elasticity,  heaven  and  earth,  land  and 
ocean,  nature  itself  acknowledge  man,  under 
Grod,  their  master.  Man  cannot  create  mat- 
ter, but  man's  mind  puts  matter  into  mo- 
tion.       '  . 

Discovery  follows  discovery,  so  rapidly 
that  the  edge  of  wonder  is  blunted  by 
familiarity.  It  seems  but  the  other  day 
since  the  Royal  Society  laughed  at  Frank- 
lin's paper,  but  shortly  after  placed  the  light- 
ning rods  on  the  Royal  Palace  with  blunted 
instead  of  pointed  conductors,  rather  than 
copy  the  rebel  philosopher.  Fourteen  years 
elapsed  between  the  sailing  of  the  first  two 
Transatlantic  steamships  ;  the  Savannah,  in 
1819,  to  Liverpool,  and  Royal  "William,  in 
1833,  from  Quebec  to  London.  The  Sirius, 
Great  Western,  G-reat  Britain,  an# President 
were  failures.  Cunard,  in  '38,  leased  the 
race-course  twenty  years.  But  Dr.  Lardner 
was  right — without  government  support  the 
enterprise  would  fail.  A  match  in  New  York 
fires  a  cannon  in  China — a  word  in  London 


114  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

takes  a  loan  in  Oregon.  Aladdin's  lamp  was 
nothing  to  the  electric  battery.  Commerce 
and  thought  have  superseded  war  and  theo- 
logy. Watt  thought  27,000,000  lbs.  steam 
raised  one  foot  high  with  the  combustion  of 
a  bushel  of  coals,  extreme — now,  it  has 
reached  100,000,000  lbs.  Formerly  we 
went  to  church  by  postillion,  road  or  canal — 
now  by  steam,  or  send  regrets  by  telegraph. 
The  past  and  present  may  be  typified  by  the 
snail  before  the  whirlwind.     (Applause.) 

The  other  day,  while  standing  under  the 
Pyramid  or--Gliizeh,  which,  Herodotus  tells 
us,  took  100,0(jO  men  twenty  years  to  build, 
it  occurred  to  me^hat  four  hundred  tons  of 
Newcastle  coal  would  have  elevated  the  en- 
tire material  in  as  many  weeks.  Half  that 
quantity  would  send  a  locomotive  round  the 
world  in  less  than  twenty  days.  Complete 
the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad,  and 
you  can  go  from  the  Hudson  to  the  Missis- 
sippi in  f^ty  hours.  Lay  down  the  rail  to 
California,  and  you  fly  over  the  Grand  Trunk 
line,  from  ocean  to  ocean,  in  five  days'  time. 
In  this  age  of  wonder,  the  question  arises — 
how  soon  will  magnetism  and  electricity 
supersede  coal  and  steam  ?     Nature  itself  is 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  115 

under  terrible  labor,  for  electricity  is  still  a 
mystery,  and  discoveries  may  be  close  at 
hand  overshadowing  all  that  has  gone  before. 
Although  six  thousand  years  in  finding  the 
steam  engine,  ours  may  be  looked  back  to  as 
darkened  age.  The  mysteries  of  the  magnet — 
perpetual  motion — why  liglit  and  heat  follow 
the  sun  ? — the  contents  of  water  in  the  ocean 
surge — the  quantity  of  electricity  in  the 
lightning  flash — all  these  are  still  marvels 
behind  a  cloud.  Some  Carlylean,  Emerson- 
ian thinker  may  soon  flash  an  idea  upon  us 
which  some  Newton,  Watt,  Fulton,  Stephen- 
son or  Morse  may  elaborate.  Some  of  the 
greatest  inventors  of  the  world  never  knew 
churches  or  doctors,  universities  or  profes- 
sors, Latin  or  Greek,  metaphysics  or  logic. 
Franklin  printed  ballads  before  signing  con- 
tracts with  kings.  Who  taught  Moses? — 
who  Job?  Who  was  Homer's  teacher? — 
who  Shakspeare's  ?  The  abstract  sciences 
were  certainly  not  their  preparatory  studies. 
Columbus'  discoveries  were  rewarded  by 
chains — Scott's  conquests  earned  him  a  court- 
martial.  So  the  great  inventors  and  bene- 
factors of  mankind  die  poor,  while  their  suc- 
cessors reap  the  harvest. 


116  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

As  the  library  of  the  British  Museum  is 
made  out  of  twenty-six  letters,  so  all  that  is 
and  has  been  since  the  experiments  in  the  gar- 
den of  Eden  has  been  effected  by  ringing  the 
changes  on  a  few  ideas.  Hence,  on  occasions 
like  this,  a  hundred  thousand  orators  are 
ever  overhauling  the  stock  heroes,  stock 
paintings,  stock  busts  of  the  age  since  man 
was  born  red  and  died  grey,  for  analogies 
when  there  is  no  analogy.  The  Greek  and 
Roman  republics  were  no  more  like  ours 
than  this  age  resembles  theirs.  Minerva 
sprang  from  the  head  of  Jupiter,  but  Colum- 
bia has  risen  through  space,  climate,  govern- 
ment to  a  magnitude  that  Europe  may  ask 
with  Bulwer,  "  What  will  they  do  with  it?" 
Those  republics,  those  heroes  were  very  re- 
spectable, but  very  old  fogies.  The  stock 
heroes  of  the  world  are  but  mile-posts  on 
the  path  of  knowledge.  Archimedes  had 
genius,  but  no  fulcrum ;  Galileo  Galilei's 
opera  glass  was  an  electric  light  to  a  dark- 
ened era.  Carlyle  says  of  a  German  author 
of  little  repute  now,  but  the  best  writer  of 
his  own  time  and  country :  "  He  reigned 
supreme,  but  like  the  night — in  rayless  ma- 
jesty and  over  a  slumbering  people."     Cleo- 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  117 

patra  drank  dissolved  pearls,  and  Vitellius 
ate  millions  in  bird's  tongues,  but  modern 
sovereigns  build  crystal  palaces,  and  beautify 
their  cities  with  their  superfluous  change. 
(Applause.) 

Books  record  all  that  has  been — with  ap- 
plication, you  can  make  a  museum  of  the 
brain — a  picture  gallery  of  the  memory. 
But  take  results,  and  you  must  admit  that 
we  have  Christianized,  mechanized,  Anglo- 
Saxonized,  accomplished  more  during  the 
last  quarter  of  a  century  than  the  whole 
eighteen  hundred  years  since  the  Christian 
era.  'Twas  only  a  few  months  before  the 
battle  of  Waterloo,  that  the  Times  printed 
its  first  sheet,  at  the  rate  of  1,800  copies  an 
hour,  with  self-acting,  steam-propelled  ma- 
chinery (Greorge  Stephenson  was  working  on 
his  steam  engine  at  the  same  time).  Apple - 
gath  increased  the  power  to  2,400 — but  even 
in  1827  the  new  machines  truck  off  but  4,000. 
But  what  is  its  power  to-day?  Their  re- 
porter is  present,  ask  him  ?     (Applause.) 

America  gathers  moss  with  its  rolling- 
stone  American  character  is  not  an  imi- 
tatation,  but  a  creation — not  a  copy,  but  an 
original.     Her  power  is  not  in  armies  nor 


118  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

armadas,  but  in  railroad  and  schoolmaster — 
imports  and  exports.  The  Union's  strength 
is  in  its  length,  and  depth.  You  may  bend, 
but  you  cannot  break  it.  Cries  of  disunion 
dissolve  like  April  showers  or  falling  dew. 
When  the  storm  rages,  passengers  are  dis- 
turbed, but  the  sailors  sing  merrily  and 
work  the  harder.  Europe  for  three  genera- 
tions has  called  our  plan  of  government  a 
failure.  But  rain  may  descend,  floods 
sweep,  winds  blow  and  beat  in  vain  upon  a 
Union  founded  on  a  rock.  (Loud  cheers.) 
There  may  be  an  occasional  family  jar  'twixt 
North  and  South  on  election  days  ;  but  our 
Constitution  forbids  divorce,  and  will,  so 
long  as  there  is  more  virtue  than  vice  in 
man. 

America  is  self-supporting — England  is  not. 
America  goes  abroad  for  luxuries — England 
for  necessities.  England  must  have  our  cot- 
ton, for  her  people  must  earn  money  to  buy 
our  corn.  Like  a  man  on  the  treadmill, 
England  must  keep  her  spindks  moving. 
America  is  altogether — England  is  every- 
where. America  can  shut  the  nation's  door 
and  fatten  on  her  soil.  Close  England's  gate 
and   she    must   starve.      In    war,    therefore, 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  119 

America's  loss   would   be    trifling  coinpared 
with  England's. 

There  are  two  stages  in  life — progress  and 
decay.  Remain  stationary,  and  you  descend 
the  ladder.  The  intermarriage  of  cousins 
destroys  intellectual  vigor,  so  tlie  rigid  ob- 
servance of  hereditary  customs  diminishes  a 
nation's  strength. 

America's  policy  is  peace.  Thirty  mer- 
chants in  New  York,  on  an  important  na- 
tional question,  can  so  act  on  public  opinion  as 
to  control  the  executive  when  wrong.  Ame- 
rica has  no  foreign  policy — why  ?  Because 
she  has  nothing  to  back  it — too  busy  to  make 
a  navy — too  much  work  at  home — besides 
too  expensive.  America  despises  war — con- 
siders navies  and  standing  armies  bad  invest- 
ments— they  don't  pay.  Money  at  ten  per 
cent,  and  war  twice  a  century,  shows  loss  of 
interest.  America  is  entirely  pacific,  but, 
following  Polonius'  advice  to  Laertes,  will 
fight  for  honor,  justice,  home,  if  needful. 
When  America  becomes  the  university,  the 
machine  shop,  the  play-ground  of  tax-rid- 
den Europe,  she  may  change  her  tactics. 

.   England's   weapons   were   cheap   labor — 
cheap  money — America  has  taken  out  a  pa- 


120  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

tent  for  both.  Since  the  crisis  labor  has 
fell  fifty  per  cent.,  so  has  capital.  America 
has  abundance  of  work,  abundance  of  food, 
abundance  of  schools,  cheap  living,  and  con- 
tentment. Ask  her  to  show  her  fortifications 
and  her  garrisons  ;  she  will  point  you  to  her 
churches,  her  schools  and  colleges  for  the  one, 
and  her  ministers,  her  scholars  and  students 
for  the  other.  England  should  respect  her, 
else  we  must  try  a  curb  bit  in  a  gentle  way. 
The  Cruiser  must  be  Rare(y)fied.  (Laughter.) 
America  cannot  longer  be  tied  to  her  mo- 
ther's apron  string.  She  considers  example 
better  than  precept.  Our  eagle,  like  your 
lion,  goes  alone.  England's  best  sermon  is  a 
good  example.  America's  policy  is  firmness 
without  obstinacy — decision  without  ofience. 
America  must  be  in  earnest.  An  elephant 
on- a  bridge  should  show  no  fear. 

Young  America  considers  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  the  Constitution,  Washing- 
ton's farewell  address,  Yankee  Doodle,  and 
the  Bible,  divine  institutions.  Life,  liberty,  and 
happiness,  are  the  words  in  his  Book  of  Life. 
Old  England  wraps  himself  in  the  "Red,  White, 
and  Blue;"  sings  "God  save  the  Queen," 
and  swears  by  Magna  Charta.     The  Scrip- 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  121 

tures,  the  myriad-tongued  Shakspeare,  and 
Milton,  are  brave,  bold  words  with  both. 
(Applause.)  Fearing  God — loving  truth,  lov- 
ing virtue — each  should  be  happy.  Shoulder 
to  shoulder  instead  of  back  to  back,  England 
and  America  must  ever  move  on.  Two  gen- 
erals to  one  army — two  admirals  to  one 
navy.  Sun  and  moon  must  both  shine.  The 
only  difficulty  is,  when  two  ride  the  same 
horse,  who  shall  take  the  back  seat  ?  (Laugh- 
ter.) 

America  is  imbibing  new  ideas,  new  fash- 
ions, new  notions.  St.  Peter's  at  Rome 
was  sixty  years  in  building  ;  in  our  day  a  bet- 
ter structure  could  be  erected  in  as  many 
months.  Our  millions  have  been  hard  at 
work,  cutting  down  forests,  making  roads, 
building  churches,  schools,  factories,  and  resi- 
dences. The  Young  American  first  bought  a 
farm,  then  built  a  log-house — sold  corn  and 
made  a  railroad,  launched  a  ship,  built  a  mill, 
opened  a  counting-house  and  bank,  engaged 
clerks,  bought  a  set  of  books,  and  is  now  pre- 
pared to  bid  for  the  commerce  of  the  world. 
To-day  our  population  is  29,000,000.  The 
same  ratio  of  increase  will  give  us  75,000,000 
in  1900,   and  200,000,000  a  century  hence. 

6 


122  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

America  can  grow  10,000,000  bales  of  cotton 
as  well  as  3,000,000.  With  no  locks— no 
knockers  on  doors — no  latch  strings — no  bells 
for  visitors,  no  excise  and  sedition  laws,  Ame- 
rica sends  her  card  of  invitation  to  all  the 
world,  and  4,000,000  accepted  and  have  come 
over  since  1844.  Stop  American  cotton  by 
war  for  twelve  months,  and  the  starving 
workman  would  do  for  the  new  parliament 
what  Cromwell  did  for  the  old. 

America  is  misrepresented  in  England. 
One  point,  and  I  will  make  way  for  more 
eloquent  men.  One  other  point,  and  although 
you  may  not  all  agree  with  me,  I  can  only 
ask  a  hearing. 

For  many  years  it  has  been  the  popular 
belief  that  America  has  been  using  England's 
money.  I  think  we  can  turn  the  tables,  and 
prove  that  England  has  been  using  America's 
money.     (No,  no.) 

Hear  me  for  my  cause.  Take  one  interest, 
our  iron-roads.  While  you  have  been  build- 
ing your  Houses  of  Parliament,  America  has 
completed  28,000  miles  of  railway,  costing  in 
round  numbers  £300,000,000  (England's 
9,000  miles  have  cost  the  same  amount  of 
money !) 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  123 

Now,  during  the  crisis,  the  entire  debt  of 
America  to  England,  government,  state,  city, 
corporation,  railroad,  and  individual  obliga- 
tions, much  of  which  is  not  due  for  ten  years, 
was  £80,000,000,  showing  roads  paid  for  by 
ourselves  £220,000,000. 

Three  per  cent,  on  £80,000,000  is  but  two 
and  a  half  millions  per  annum.  Reflect  and 
you  will  admit  that  America  has  been  the 
golden  egg. 

Who  will  pay  the  best  dividends  in  the 
panic  ?     America. 

Who  grows  the  cotton  which  you  manufac- 
ture and  resell  to  us  ?     America. 

Who  purchases  your  rails,  your  cutlery, 
and  your  hardware  in  quantity  ?    America. 

Who  takes  your  manufactured  goods  ? 
America. 

The  value  of  ten  cargoes  of  raw  material 
you  send  to  us  in  one  of  manufactured  goods. 

Or  let  me  put  it  in  another  shape  : 

If  England  has  not  got  a  good  share  of 
her  wealth  from  America,  where  has  she  ob- 
tained it. 

From  Canada  ?  Cobden  says  not ;  but  that 
she  has  been  a  tax  of  £2,000,000  per  an- 
num. 


124  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

From  Australia  ?  British  regiments  there 
are  paid  for  out  of  the  British  treasury. 

From  India?  Wait  till  the  £60,000,000 
debt  has  been  added  to  the  national  debt  of 
England,  and  the  mutiny  bills  are  paid. 

From  China  ?  In  1841  the  exports  were 
about  a  million.  Seventeen  years  have  gone 
and  the  exports  show  no  increase,  while  im- 
ports have  augmented  from  30,000,000  lbs. 
of  tea  to  90,000,000  ;  from  5,000  bales  of 
silk  to  95,000. 

From  Europe  ?  Overhaul  the  disburse- 
ment bills  Of  Wellington  at  Waterloo  before 
you  give  a  decided  answer. 

Where  then  ? — from  Greece  ? — from  Peru  ? 
— from  Mexico  ? — from  Spain  ?  Ask  the 
brokers  on  the  Stock  Exchange. 

Look  over  the  tables  carefully,  and  you 
will  see  how  grossly  in  this  matter  America 
is  misrepresented  in  England — Englismen 
have  looked  through  the  eyes  of  Sydney 
Smith  long  enough. 

These  statements  are  true  or  false — right 
or  wrong — fact  or  fallacy.  Will  some  one 
correct  me  if  in  error  ?  Trade  knows  neither 
friends  nor  foes  ;  sell  dear,  buy  cheap,  was 
Peel's  advice  ;  America  and  England  divide 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  125 

commissions  ;  the  profits  on  American  trade 
have  gone  far  to  pay  interest  on  the  national 
debt. 

I  mention  this  to  show  that,  when  Ame- 
rica and  England  lose  temper,  it  is  the  right 
arm  injuring  the  left.  We  shall  stop  the 
engines  of  the  war-steamer  with  bales  of 
cotton,  fill  the  cannon's  mouth  with  tobacco, 
and  load  the  Enfields  with  corn.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

America  has  been  the  shirt,  pantaloons, 
and  coat — everything  but  the  hat  and  boots 
of  John  Bull.     (Laughter.) 

Take  Glasgow — a  Baillie  Nichol  Jarvie  in 
size  with  America,  but  a  lean  Rob  Roy  with- 
out her — while  red-faced  Daniel  Lambert, 
Liverpool,  would  be  reduced  to  a  Calvin 
Edson  if  deprived  of  the  American  trade. 
(Yes.) 

England  is  the  world's  heart — its  pulsa- 
tions are  felt  everywhere — seas  and  rivers 
are  the  veins,  and  shed  her  blood  to  do 
honor  to  her  ideas.  Having  for  so  long  fur- 
nished brain  for  the  whole  world,  she  clings 
to  pld  habits.  While  other  lands  were  open- 
ing their  eyes,  England  worked  hard  and  got 
rich,  and  always  preserved  her  nationality  ,* 


126  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

while  Spanish,  French,  Dutch,  and  Portu- 
guese colonists  intermarried  with  natives 
and  lost  their  identity. 

Tell  an  Englishman  to  improve  upon  his 
government,  he  will  ask  you  to  gild  refined 
gold — color  the  violet — perfume  the  rose — 
but  hope  not  to  amend  the  constitution  of 
this  country.  Why,  then,  should  an  Ameri- 
can be  blamed  for  having  the  same  feeling  of 
national  superiority  ?     (Applause.) 

Dates  make  the  African — rice  the  Asiatic ; 
but  the  English  and  American  eat  beef — 
hence  their  iron  character.  This  is  an  age 
of  iron — iron  roads,  iron  bridges,  iron 
houses,  iron  fences,  iron  ships — nothing  but 
the  iron  will  of  the  iron  Duke  brought  peace 
to  Europe  by  sending  Napoleon  to  St. 
Helena. 

America  has  followed  England  abroad,  and 
copied  her  at  home  so  long  (we  are  even 
indebted  to  an  English  nobleman  for  the 
arms  on  our  national  seal,);  she  has  faith  in 
our  continuing  the  practice — she  also  had 
faith  in  the  stability  of  the  Indian  army, 
when  down  it  tumbled  like  Disraeli's  oppo- 
sition ;  faith  in  the  solvency  of  her  finance, 
when    Lord   Palmerston   did   for   the    "old 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  127 

lady  "  what  Lord  John  Russell  did  ten  years 
before  ;  implicit  faith  in  the  honesty  of  her 
coup  d'etat  special  constable  of  1848  ;  and, 
as  shown  by  the  recent  right  of  search  move- 
ment, which  Mr.  Dallas  has  so  eloquently 
told  us  is  forever  settled,  in  the  unceasing 
faith  and  forgiving  disposition  of  the  Ameri- 
cans. 

The  ocean-spanning  telegraph  is  the  re- 
versed rainbow  that  will  bring  the  welcome 
news  to  your  Queen — 

"  Old  England,  you  are  my  friend  and  I  am  yours." 

"Young  Ameeioa." 

Four  hours  before  the  writing  of  that  de- 
spatch, this  reply  will  be  handed  to  the  Pre- 
sident : 

"  Columbia— forget  and  forgive.    What  God  has  joined 
together  let  no  man  put  asunder." 

With  the  simple  addition — 

"  What  is  the  price  of  cotton  ? 

"  Beitanioa." 

While  the  mechanical  wire  pulling  of  the 
national  war  frigates  has  failed  to  unite  us, 
our  ambassador  tells  us  that  the  diplomatic 
wire  pulling  has  been  more  successful.     The 


128  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

news  has  this  moment  reached  us  that  while 
nothing  could  check  the  Falls  of  Niagara^ 
Agamemnon  did  not  display  his  usual  mag- 
nanimity !  But,  like  our  diplomatic  ruptures, 
the  suspension  must  be  temporary.  We  shall 
succeed.     (Applause.) 

"Oh  America!  America!"  said  an  elo- 
quent son  of  France,  "  with  thy  *  Far  West ' 
— with  thy  prairies  without  limits — with  thy 
forests  compared  with  which  ours  are  but  as 
clusters  of  trees — with  thy  lakes,  vast  as  our 
seas — with  thy  cataracts  and  abysses — Ame- 
rica !  with  thy  growing  industry,  with  thy 
indomitable  spirit  of  enterprise,  and  the  su- 
perb and  insolent  daring  of  thy  children^Oh  ! 
there  is  in  thee,  thou  new  world,  in  thy  new 
race,  and  thine  adolescence  of  nature,  some- 
thing which  attracts  as  the  sun,  as  the  future, 
as  the  mysterious  !  From  the  over-populated 
shores  of  the  old  world  what  thousands  of 
desires  are  directed  to  thee,  thou  land  bound- 
less and  free  !  I  picture  thee  to  myself, 
America,  opening  thine  arms  to  the  hungry, 
the  outcast,  the  hopeless,  and  the  wretched 
of  all  nations,  and  exclaiming  '  Come  ye  I 
come  ye  !  I  have  space  for  ye !  I  have  for 
3^e   land  and  sea,  and  woods  and  rivers  !    I 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  129 

have  iron  for  ye  and  lead  !  I  have  work,  I 
have  bread,  I  have  air,  and  ye  may  breathe ! 
I  have  gold  and  ye  may  be  enriched  !  Cast 
off  your  shoes  and  shake  off  the  dust  of  the 
old  world  !  Come  and  refresh  yourselves  in 
the  living  waters  of  nature  !'  "     (Cheers.) 

Again  thanking  you  for  your  warm-hearted 
expressions  of  approbation,  which  are  my  ex- 
cuse for  having  encroached  upon  the  ten 
minutes  allowed  me,  will  you  permit  me  to 
give  the  following  sentiment : 

"  The  Anglo-American,  a  new  edition  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race,  in  a  binding  peculiar  to 
the  new  world."     (Applause.) 


OPINIONS  OF    THE   ENGLISH   PRESS. 

(London  Times.) 

Mr.  Train  concluded  an  eloquent  speech 
amidst  loud  applause. 


6* 


130  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

(From  Northern  Times,  Liverpool,  July  1858.) 

YANKEE    AND  ENGLISH   GREATNESS  CONTRASTED. 

It  is  at  all  times  a  most  refreshing  treat 
to  peruse  the  speech  of  an  orator,  and  an  ori- 
ginal thinker.  But  when  the  subject  is  one 
which  contrasts  England  with  America,  and 
sets  forth  the  amount  of  dependence  which 
each  power  exercises  upon  the  other,  the 
pleasure  of  hearing  or  perusing  such  an  ora- 
tion is  doubly  interesting  and  attractive.  Our 
readers  had  an  opportunity  of  perusing  such 
an  oration  yesterday.  The  speech  of  Mr.  Gr. 
F.  Train,  at  the  London  dinner,  in  celebra- 
tion of  Independence  day,  was  given  in  ex- 
tenso,  and  has  no  doubt  gratified  and  pleased 
all  who  have  gone  through  the  able  and  elo- 
quent remarks  of  the  gifted  speaker.  Mr. 
Train's  theme  was  one  that  was  well  calcu- 
lated to  draw  forth  all  his  powers,  viz., 
"  Young  America  and  Old  England,  divided 
in  1776,  united  in  1858."  What  mighty  re- 
miniscences did  these  words  call  forth.  A 
history  of  America  and  her  onward  progress, 
and  the  giant  strides  she  has  made  as  an  agri- 
cultural, mechanical,   scientific,  and  commer- 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  131 

cial  nation.  Well  indeed  might  he  exult  upon 
that  progress,  and  hold  up  the  United  States 
to  the  admiration  and  envy  of  the  world  ! 
The  progress  of  America  has  been  not  only 
rapid,  but  solid  and  substantial.  But  pleas- 
ing as  were  the  observations  on  this  head, 
Mr.  Train's  remarks  as  to  the  duty  of  Ame- 
rica and  England  towards  each  other  were  pe- 
culiarly acceptable,  and  showed  that  the  orator 
was  a  Cosmopolite  in  the  real  sense  of  the 
word  ;  that  he  loved  his  native  land^  but  was 
not  less  sensible  to  the  honor,  dignity,  and 
power  of  Britain.  He  might  certainly  have 
extolled  Young  America,  and  been  less  sar- 
castic upon  British  dependence  upon  the 
United  States.  It  is  true  we  require  her  cot- 
ton, but  our  manufactures  are  no  less  impera- 
tive for  her  numerous  sons  and  daughters. 
Hence  it  is  that,  as  Mr.  Train  properly  re- 
marks, "  shoulder  to  shoulder  instead  of  back 
to  back,  England  and  America  must  ever 
move  on.  This  is  a  sentiment  worthy  the 
loftiest  statesman  of  either  country.  We  have 
never  perused  a  speech  with  more  unabated 
interest  than  the  one  under  consideration.  It 
meets  the  earnest  consideration  of  the  people 
of  both  countries.     If  liberal  and  enlightened 


132  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

sentiments  like  these  promulgated  by  Mr. 
Train  were  oftener  put  forward,  much  and 
lasting  good  would  be  the  result.  Of  course, 
we  do  not  indorse  all  his  ideas  ;  that,  how- 
ever, does  not  prevent  us  from  relishing  their 
originality,  and  asking  our  readers  to  ponder 
over  all  he  has  to  say  on  the  important  topics 
which  he  discussed. 

(LiTerpool  Albion,  July,  1863.) 

"  Express  Train." — The  most  intensely 
Yankeefied  stump  orator  of  the  night  (cele- 
bration of  American  Independence  in  Lon- 
don) was  a  gentleman,  named  Train — (well 
called  Express  Train  by  Charles  Mackay,  who 
came  after  him.)  Answering  to  the  toast  of 
Young  America,  proposed  by  Mr.  Kennard, 
he  screwed  down  the  safety  valve,  poked  up 
the  fire,  and  boiled  ofi"  at  a  gallop  at  annihi- 
lating velocity,  on  the  contents  of  the  "  En- 
cyclopaedia Britannica,"  "  Johnson's  Diction- 
ary," and  other  miscellaneous  receptacles  of 
human  knowledge.  Charles  Mathews,  Albert 
Smith,  and  Spurgeon,  rolled  into  one  would 
be  a  very  slow  coach  indeed  beside  Train, 
who  was  at  last  suddenly  pulled  up  by  the 
toastmaster  coming  from  the  chairman,  and 


SPREAD-EAGLEISif.  133 

telling  him  to  "  cut  it  short,"  which  Train  did 
ere  long,  biit  not  till  he  had  got  a  good  deal 
further,  by  which  time  he  had  wrought  his 
countrymen  to  the  seventh  heaven  of  ecstasy 
with  his  encomiums  on  the  paradise  called  the 
United  States,  and  .leading  them  to  believe 
that  it  was  quite  a  mistake  on  the  part  of 
the  angels  to  reside  in  a  celestial  sphere, 
instead  of  locating  themselves  on  the  Dela- 
ware or  Mississippi,  and  cultivating  their 
wings  from  the  Ohio  quill  market. — London 
correspondence  of  the  Birmingham  Journal. 

(Paris  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Herald,  July  1858.) 

The  celebration  of  the  eighty-second  anni- 
versary of  American  Independence  has  been 
marked  on  either  side  of  the  British  Channel 
by  one  of  those  trifles  which — in  them- 
selves light  as  air — sometimes  excite  impor- 
tant comment  in  reflecting  minds.  The 
speech  of  Mr.  Train,  notwithstanding  its  rhap- 
sodical character^  is  faithfully  recorded  ia  all 
the  French  journals  ;  and  though  the  minis- 
terial journalists  abstain  from  comment,  it  is 
evident  they  consider  the  delivery  of  such  a 
speech,  on  an  occasion  so  special,  as  an  inter- 
esting fact.     Besides,  in  stating  that  England 


J 


134  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

has  been  and  is  the  king  of  filibusters — that 
India,  AustraUa,  Gibraltar,  Malta,  Eden,  and 
even  Perim  are  exanaples  of  it — Mr.  Train 
has  uttered  a  sentiment  to  which  there  are 
millions  in  France  who  give  their  assent. 


Correspondence  hetuoeen  the  Foreign  Affairs  committee  of 
Sheffield,  England,  and  Mr.  George  Francis  Train,  of 
America. 

Foreign  Affairs  Committee, 
Sheffield,  July  \Zth,  1858. 

Sir  :  This  committee  have  read  your 
speech  at  the  *'  Anniversary  of  American  In- 
dependence "  with  deep  alarm. 

As  a  justification  of  American  filibustering, 
you  instance  the  acts  of  England  in  stealing 
"India,  Australia,  Gibraltar,  Aden,  Perim," 
etc.  For  these  acts  England  will  certainly 
meet,  sooner  or  later,  with  condign  punish- 
ment. The  scriptural  denunciation  and  im- 
precation must  ring  in  the  ears  of  every 
honest  man:  ''Cursed  be  he  who  removeth 
his  neighbor's  landmark,  and  all  the  people 
shall  say.  Amen.  Cursed  in  the  city  and  in 
the  field,  cursed  in  basket  and  store,   curst 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  135 

when  thou  goest  out,"  etc.  England  by 
these  successive  acts  of  piracy  has  destroyed 
her  honor  and  character,  the  only  true  foun- 
dation of  a  state,  and  her  position  is  similar 
to  that  of  Rome  immediately  before  its 
downfall.  , 

It  is  therefore  with  deep  regret  that  the 
committee  see  America  following  in  Eng- 
land's footsteps.  If  America  wickedly  per- 
sists in  this  course,  her  downfall  will  be  more 
rapid  than  her  rise. 

Let  all  friends  of  America  remember  and 
call  upon  their  Senate  to  be  guided  by  the 
words  of  that  eminent  writer  on  Interna- 
tional Law,  Grotius :  "A  people  violating 
(even  for  their  profit)  the  laws  of  nature 
and  of  nations,  do  but  pull  down  the  bul- 
wark that  secures  their  own  peace  and 
safety." 

I  have  the  honor  to  be, 
Sir,    . 
Your  obedient  Servant, 

C.  NUTTALL, 

Secretary. 

G.  F.  Tbain,  Esq. 


136  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 


84  Great  George  Street,  Westminster, 

LoTidon^  July  15fA,  1858. 

My  dear  Sir  :  Your  courteous  letter  de- 
serves a  prompt  reply. 

My  remarks  at  the  Anniversary  Banquet, 
as  you  interpret  them,  may  well  have  oc- 
casioned the  comments  you  have  made. 
While,  however,  confirming  what  I  said,  I 
regret  the  view  you  take  of  it.  A  word  of 
explanation  is  due  to  you,  and  will  place  me 
in  a  fairer  light.  My  argument  was  that, 
socially,  commercially,  financially,  politically, 
America  was  grossly  misrepresented  in  Eng- 
land. By  calling  plain  things  by  their  proper 
names,  it  was  my  desire  to  remove,  as  far 
as  one  individual  among  the  millions  was 
capable  of  doing,  some  of  the  prejudices 
which  have  arisen.  Let  us  state  one  or 
two  of  them. 

First — Socially.  Forgetting  that  twenty 
years  bring  changes  which  are  worthy  of  re- 
spect, the  English  people  continue  to  see 
America  through  the  very  funny,  very  sarcas- 
tic, and  very  exaggerating  eyes  of  Marryat, 
Dickens,  Trollope,  and  Punch. 

Truth  is  more  palatable  than  fiction.  Hu- 
manity courts  praise  if  deserving,  if  not,  of 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  137 

course,  censure  follows.  If  right,  the  former 
— ^if  wrong,  the  latter.  As  England  never 
praises  America,  the  English  people  naturally 
think  the  Americans  in  the  wrong.  Hence 
the  misconception. 

Second — Commercially.  England  and  Ame- 
rica are  mutually  abound  in  their  trade  with 
each  other  by  an  annual  bond  of  one  hun- 
dred millions  sterling  to  keep  the  peace. 
The  obligation  is  mutual — not  pounds  with 
England,  pence  with  America — beams  on 
one  side,  motes  on  the  other — but  a  Siamese- 
twin  relationship  ;  cut  the  bond,  and  both 
suffer.  John"  Bull  stands  six  feet  two  in  his 
own  estimation,  while  Jonathan  is  but  two 
feet  six !  Subtract  from  John,  add  to 
Jonathan,  and  their  respective  statures  will 
be  better  understood.  Palmerston  and 
Buchanan  are  about  the  same  proportions. 
Young  America  stands  equally  well  with 
Young  England. 

Third — Financially.  England  having  look- 
ed through  Sydney  Smith's  spectacles  for 
fifteen  years,  magnifying  financial  mole-hills 
into  financial  mountains,  I  move  that  she 
smash  the  reverend  gentleman's  glasses,  and, 
for  the  future,  use  her  own  eyes,  so  that  she 


138  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

may  judge  freely  of  a  land  from  which  she 
has  been  enriched. 

Lastly — Politically.  Palmerston,  Shaftes- 
bury, Brougham,  Oxford  have  sworn  the 
horse  is  "eighteen  feet  high"  for  so  many 
years  in  the  Wilberforcian  Emancipation 
Scheme,  that  they  are  asWmed  to  acknow- 
ledge their  error.  "  Guilty  or  not  guilty  ?" 
asked  the  judge,  "  How  can  I  tell  till  I 
have  heard  the  evidence,"  responded  the 
Irishman.  Every  day  public  opinion  gives 
evidence  against  their  exploded  idea,  yet 
they  are  willing  to  chance  the  involving  of 
sixty  millions  of  very  respectable  white  people 
in  the  horrors  of  war,  in  order  to  force  the 
execution  of  their  philanthropic  plans  in 
liberating  as  many  hundred  blacks  / 

Consistency  is  a  jewel ! — jewels  are  rare. 
"  To  err  is  human,  to  forgive  divine."  Let 
these  statesmen  own  their  mistake,  and  Ame- 
rica will  be  most  forgiving. 

They  would  sacrifice  their  own  cousins,  the 
Americans,  in  trying  to  improve  the  con- 
dition of  their  certainly  very  distant  relations, 
the  Africans  !  To  become  benefactors  of  the 
blacks,  they  would  be  malefactors  of  the 
whites  ! 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  139 

Public  opinion  has  prepared  a  mine'  under 
Exeter  Hall,  and  since  the  Times  has  ex- 
amined more  clearly  American  affairs,  they 
hold  the  fuse  in  their  own  hands.  Prepare 
for  a  splendid  illumination,  when  the  fabric, 
so  ancient  and  honorable,  of  mistaken  philan- 
thropy explodes.  • 

The  above  are  some  of  the  points,  if  the 
good  people  of  England  will  argue  fairly, 
and  discuss  good-naturedly,  which  will  prove 
that  America  is  neither  a  monster  nor  a 
myth!  - 

Having  defined  my  position,  I  return  to 
your  peace  platform.  In  alluding  to  Eng- 
land's acquisition  of  India,  Australia,  Gibral- 
tar, Malta,  Aden,  Perim,  I  did  not  say,  nor 
did  I  recommend,  that  America  should  fol- 
low the  same  course  with-  Cuba,  Central 
America,  Mexico,  and  the  Sandwich  Islands. 
What  I  did  say,  was  that  if  America  pursued 
a  similar  plan,  "  she  would  only  he  following  in 
the  footsteps  of  her  illustrious  predecessor.^^ 
That  England  was  the  King  of  Filibusters — 
America  but  a  petty  prince.  You  observe 
where  I  have  been  misrepresented. 

When  America  requires  territory,  so  far  as 
the  morale  is  concerned,  you  may  rest  assured 


140  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

she  will  improve  upon  England's  system. 
There's  wide  difference  between  plucking 
green  apples  from  our  neighbor's  tree^  and  ac- 
cepting ripe  fruit  when  they  mahe  you  a  pre- 
sent of  it. 

A  white  man  and  a  red  man,  agreeing  to 
divide  their  game,  shot  a  turkey  and  a  buz- 
zard. Said  the  former  to  the  Indian,  "  You 
take  the  buzzard,  and  I'll  take  the  turkey,  or 
I'll  take  the  turkey  and  you  take  the  buz- 
zard." The  disgusted  hunter  simply  re- 
marked, "  You  don't  say  turkey  to  me  once." 
The  ancient  anecdote  illustrates  England's 
position  towards  America  when  the  acquisi- 
tion of  territory  is  the  diplomatic  theme. 
America  is  satiated  with  buzzards  and  craves 
turkey,  and  as  she  is  rich  enough  to  be 
generous,  she  prefers  to  buy  rather  than  take 
that  which  belongs  to  others.  America  is 
rich,  Spain  is  poor  ;  when  she  chooses  she  can 
turn  Cuba  into  ready  money.  The  quicker 
the  better,  for  the  times  are  changing. 

Again,  to  the  point.  Peace  at  all  cost,- 
except  national  honor  ;  that  has  been,  -  is 
now,  and  will  continue  to  be  America's  pol- 
icy, unless  her  national  rights  are  trampled 
upon.     Our  history  proves  the  truth  of  the 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  141 

assertion.  The  wars  of  1776  and  1812  Eng- 
land admits  were  just  on  America's  part — 
unjust  on  England's.  The  mode  of  settle- 
ment of  the  Ashburton  Oregon  question — 
the  Crampton  enlistment  question — and  the 
recent  right  of  search  question,  proves  that 
America  was  right,  England  was  wrong. 

America  never  filibusters.  She  has  never 
been,  is  not  now,  nor  will  she  ever  be,  guilty 
of  filibustering. 

Was  not  Texas  a  part  of  the  old  French 
contract  for  Louisiana,  which  we  re-annexed 
by  consent  of  the  people  ?  Did  not  America 
conquer  Mexico  and. then  make  the  Mexicans 
a  present  of  the  conquered  country  ?  After 
paying  her  own  expenses,  did  not  the  United 
States  loan  money  to  the  Mexicans  for  the 
disbursements  of  their  own  army?  New 
Mexico  and  California  were  received  as  indem- 
nity for  the  past  and  security  for  the  future. 

America  never  filibusters.  The  Cuban  ex- 
pedition was  planned  and  executed  by 
foreigners.  Lopez  landed  in  Cuba,  our  Gov- 
ernment trying  in  vain  to  stop  him. 

The  Nicaraguan  expedition  was  also  the 
work  of  foreigners.  The  promptness  with 
which  the  American  Government  (exceeding 


142  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

the  neutrality  laws)  arrested  Walker  and  his 
followers,  and  brought  them  back  to  the 
United  States,  should  convince  you  that 
America  never  filibusters. 

Dickens  says,  ''all  right, ^^  in  England, 
signifies  "go  ahead  ^^  in  America;  in  some 
respects  he  may  be  right,  but  not  on  the 
filibustering  question. 

If  I  have  succeeded  in  convincing  you  that 
America's  policy  is  pacific,  not  filibustering, 
that  the  object  of  my  remarks,  on  the  Anni- 
versary of  American  Independence,  at  the 
London  Tavern,  was  to  show  how  unfair  it  is 
for  England  to  misrepresent  their  blood  re- 
lations, the  Americans — I  say,  if  I  have  suc- 
ceeded in  either  of  these  things,  I  am  satis- 
fied. 

I  believe  with  your  Society,  and  with 
Channing,  that  "  War  is  a  great  moral  evil " 
— that  "  the  field  of  battle  is  a  theatre  got 
up  at  immense  cost  for  the  exhibition  of 
crime  on  the  grandest  possible  scale."  I 
consider  that  a  soldier  is  a  live  target,  put  up 
by  one  nation  for  another  to  shoot  at.  This 
was  so  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  will 
ever  be.  Nothing  can  be  more  praiseworthy 
than  your   efforts  to  pacify  the  world.      To 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  143 

make  war,  nations  Must  have  irioney  ;  but 
if  you  expect  everlasting  peace,  you  must 
prevail  upon  the  Rothschilds,  Barings,  Hopes, 
and  Steiglitzs  of  the  world  to  cut  off  the 
supplies.  Stop  the  pay,  and  soldiers  and 
sailors  muSt  keep  shops  or  go  to  farming. 

Thanking  you  to  point  out  where  we  dis- 
agree, you  must  believe  me, 
Most  respectfully, 

My  dear  Sir, 
Your  obedient  servant, 

George  Francis  Train. 

C.  Ndttall,  Esq  , 
Secretary  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs,  Sheffield. 


•  •  » 


Foreign  Affairs  Gommitek, 
Sheffield,  July  29th,  1858. 

Sir  :  This  Committee  did  not  write  to  you 
with  the  expectation  of  entering  into  a  dis- 
cussion on  the  subject  of  America.  They 
addressed  you  in  a  solemn  manner,  on  a  most 
solemn  subject,  and  they  expected  a  very 
different  reply  from  that  they  have  received. 

An  answer  to  your  letter  would  be  sure  to 
result  in  a   lengthy  and  useless  discussion. 


142  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

the  neutrality  laws)  arrested  Walker  and  his 
followers,  and  brought  them  back  to  the 
United  States,  should  convince  you  that 
America  never  filibusters. 

Dickens  says,  "  all  right, ^^  in  England, 
signifies  "go  ahead"  in  America;  in  some 
respects  he  may  be  right,  but  not  on  the 
filibustering  question. 

If  I  have  succeeded  in  convincing  you  that 
America's  policy  is  pacific,  not  filibustering, 
that  the  object  of  my  remarks,  on  the  Anni- 
versary of  American  Independence,  at  the 
London  Tavern,  was  to  show  how  unfair  it  is 
for  England  to  misrepresent  their  blood  re- 
lations, the  Americans — I  say,  if  I  have  suc- 
ceeded in  either  of  these  things,  I  am  satis- 
fied. 

I  believe  with  your  Society,  and  with 
Channing,  that  "  War  is  a  great  moral  evil " 
— that  "  the  field  of  battle  is  a  theatre  got 
up  at  immense  cost  for  the  exhibition  of 
crime  on  the  grandest  possible  scale."  I 
consider  that  a  soldier  is  a  live  target,  put  up 
by  one  nation  for  another  to  shoot  at.  This 
was  so  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  will 
ever  be.  Nothing  can  be  more  praiseworthy 
than  your   efforts  to  pacify  the  world.      To 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  143 

make  war,  nations  Must  have  money  ;  but 
if  you  expect  everlasting  peace,  you  must 
prevail  upon  the  Rothschilds,  Barings,  Hopes, 
and  Steiglitzs  of  the  world  to  cut  off  the 
supplies.  Stop  the  pay,  and  soldiers  and 
sailors  mugt  keep  shops  or  go  to  farming. 

Thanking  you  to  point  out  where  we  dis- 
agree, you  must  believe  me, 
Most  respectfully, 

My  dear  Sir, 
Your  obedient  servant, 

George  Francis  Train. 

C.  NuTTALL,  Esq  , 
Secretary  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs,  Sheffield. 


•  •  • 


Foreign  Affairs  Commitee, 
Sheffield,  July  29<A,  1858. 

Sir  :  This  Committee  did  not  write  to  you 
with  the  expectation  of  entering  into  a  dis- 
cussion on  the  subject  of  America.  They 
addressed  you  in  a  solemn  manner,  on  a  most 
solemn  subject,  and  they  expected  a  very 
different  reply  from  that  they  have  received. 

An  answer  to  your  letter  would  be  sure  to 
result   in  a   lengthy  and  useless  discussion. 


144  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

If  the    Committee  possessed  any  desire  for 
such  a  discussion,  they  feel  they  would  be 
neglecting  their  duty  in  gratifying  it.     Their 
time  must  be  devoted  to  the  saving  of  Eng- 
land from  nets  which  have  been  prepared  for 
it  by    a   Russian   Cabinet   and   an    English 
statesman,  and  of  which  this  and  many  other 
similar  Committees  have,  through  laborious 
study,  made  themselves  acquainted  with. 
I  have  the  honor  to  remain. 
Sir, 
Your  obedient  Servant, 

^         C.  NUTTALL, 

Secretary. 

G.  F.  Train,  Esq., 

etc.  etc.  etc. 

PS, — We  are  not,  as  you  imagme,  a  so- 
ciety that  calls  for  peace  at  any  price— we 
only  protest  against  unlawful  warfare. 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  145 

(From  the  London  Times.) 

THE   UNITED   STATES. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Times  : 

•  We  had  planted  thirteen  colonies  in  that 
country  ;  those  colonies  had  declared  their 
independence,  and  had  since  increased  to 
the  number  of  thirty-five  or  thirty-six  free 
States." 

Again, 

''In  the  meantime  the  Americans  had  in- 
creased from  thirteen  to  thirty-six  independ- 
ent States  " — Extract  from  the  Tiines'  report 
of  Mr.  Roebuck's  speech  on  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company. 


Sir  :  Will  you  permit  me  to  hand  you  the 
inclosed  hst  of  States  now  composing  the 
American  Union,  the  publication  of  which 
may  dispel  any  doubt  as  to  their  number  ? 

Name.  By  whom  Settled.  Date. 

Virginia The  English 1607 

New  York The  Dutch 1614 

Massachusetts The  Puritans 1620 

New  Hampshire The  Puritans 1623 

1 


/gpc^  a  discmssioa,  they  ieel  they  would  Ibe  ^^^?4°  ^ 
ne^ectiBg  their  duty  in  gratiiying  it.     Tbheir  .  A<;'- - 
^iine  must  be  deyoted  to  the  saving  of  Eng-^igl- . 
;;lio^ ^^Qiifin^  heen  prepafet^^  {v^; 

'il'^^li,;  B>ussian  G^         and  an    EngE^^^^~;:r 
^^tesmanv  and x)f  "wdiJclit  tiiis  and  many:  oth^^^^^^^.; 
mmilar  Committers  fetve,  througli  iaboriea^  ■    "  v 
ijnad^ JhestiSeS^  a^uai^^  "  -'^^   "^^^  - ' 
honor 


^0>iBi::irt'.>f-t^^ 


■■'  ;-^V^^-^-^'  r- ■■■■■■"■  ■-^^■'■■^■-;:l .'^-i-nfc^-^:^^^  . --- 

": '  '^'-^nS-o"  ■.-^'  -n'^^**y»:-®*®*  s*®? ■■■ .- :  r  ^cr^>>-  -..^.^.4;:,:  v-'--^v-  ■^■^-  ■  xi;;--^!^^^^'  r-r^-V-^v  -■.,*:^^.x^'  •  -.^'  - 

/  dety  that  calls  for  jieace^ai:  i4iy  pri(^— ^w^ 
<d»nly  protest  s^inst  unlawful  warfare*    -  V5&^5^ 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  145 

(From  the  London  Times.) 

THE   UNITED   STATES. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Times  : 

'  We  had  planted  thirteen  colonies  in  that 
country  ;  those  colonies  had  declared  their 
independence,  and  had  since  increased  to 
the  number  of  thirty-five  or  thirty-six  free 
States." 

Again, 

"  In  the  meantime  the  Americans  had  in- 
creased from  thirteen  to  thirty-six  independ- 
ent States" — Extract  from  the  Times'  report 
of  Mr.  Roebuck's  speech  on  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company. 


Sir  :  Will  you  permit  me  to  hand  you  the 
inclosed  list  of  States  now  composing  the 
American  Union,  the  publication  of  which 
may  dispel  any  doubt  as  to  their  number  ? 

Name.  By  whom  Settled.  Date. 

Virginia The  English 1607 

Few  York The  Dutch 1614 

Massachusetts The  Puritans 1620 

New  Hampshire The  Puritans 1623 

1 


146  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

Name.  By  whom  Settled.  Date. 

New  Jersey Tlie  Dutch 1624 

Delaware Swpdes  and  Danes. . .  1627 

Maryland Irish  Catholics 1 635 

Connecticut The  Puritans 1635 

Eliode  Island Eoger  Williams 1636 

North  Carolina The  English 1650 

South  Carolina The  Huguenots 1670 

Pennsylvania. William  Penn 1682 

Georgia The  English 1733 

The  "  Declaration  of  Independence  "  of  the 
above  (the  original)  thirteen  States  was  made 
on  the  4th  of  July,  1776. 

"Articles  of  Confederation  and  Perpetual 
Union  of  the  United  States  of  America  "  were 
agreed  to  by  State  delegates  on  the  15th  of 
November,  1777. 

Articles  ratified  by  eight  States  on  the  9th 
of  July,  one  ditto  on  the  21st  of  July,  one 
ditto  on  the  24th  of  July,  and  one  ditto  On 
the  26th  of  November,  1778  ;  one  ditto  on 
the  22d  of  February,  1779  ;  and  the  last  one 
on  the  1st  of  March,  1781. 

Constitution  went  into  operation,  and  first 
Congress  held  at  Federal  Hall,  New  York,  on 
the  4th  of  March,  1789  ;  Washington  entered 
on  Presidential  duties  on  the  30th  of  April, 
1789. 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  147 

•When  admitted 
Name.  into  Union. 

Vermont 1791 

Kentucky 1792 

Tennessee 1796 

Ohio 1802 

Louisiana 1812 

Indiana 1816 

Mississippi 1817 

Illinois 1818 

Alabama 1819 

Maine 1820 

Missouri 1821 

Arkansas 1836 

Michigan 1837 

Florida 1845 

Texas 1845 

Iowa 1846 

"Wisconsin 1847 

California 1850 

Minnesota 1858 

Kansas  (conditionally) 1858 

Making  33  States,  instead  of  36,  as  mentioned 
by  Mr.  Roebuck. 

Oregon,  "Washington,   Utah,  New  Mexico, 
and  Nebraska  are  represented  in  Congress  as 
Territories,  not   yet  having   been   organized 
as  States.    Arizona  also  waits  outside. 
Most  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

George  Francis  Train. 

84  Great  Geoege  Street,  "Westminster, 
July  2l8t. 


148  SPEE  AD-E  AGLEISM. 

Remarks  made  at  a  Public  Meeting  held  at  Mansfield,  Ohio, 
Nov.  1858,  to  meet  the  President,  Directors,  and  Agents 
for  Foreign  Bondholders  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Wes- 
tern Railroad — Judge  Barlley  in  the  chair. 

From  childhood  I  pictured  in  my  fancy 
the  sunny  skies  and  fair  gardens  of  Italy,  and 
poets,  painters,  sculptors,  ancient  heroes  grew 
in  my  young  imagination  to  such  uncouth 
sizes,  that  when  I  went  to  Rome,  the  vision 
vanished,  and  I  came  away  disgusted — dis- 
gusted that  Americans  should  ever  ring  the 
praises  of  a  land  so  far  inferior  to  their 
own. 

Those  who  have  so  eloquently  preceded 
me  have  introduced  my  name  with  so  many 
words  of  commendation — saying  so  many  flat- 
tering things  for  "Young  America" — that  I 
fear  you  will  be  greatly  disappointed. 

Judge  Bartley  knows  the  enterprise,  and 
he  ought  to  be  a  good  judge.  (Laughter.)  He 
tells  you  that  everybody  is  in  earnest,  and 
that  at  last  you  are  to  have  a  road. 

General  Ward  ventilates  the  subject  with 
his  usual  toast,  turning  it  on  every  side,  and 
showing  off  its  points  as  he  knows  so  well  how 
to  do. 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  149 

Mr.  Kennard,  whose  name  preceded  him 
as  an  eminent  engineer,  has  plainly  told  you  ; 
that  he  believes  the  road  one  that  bids  fair  to 
be  the  best  in  the  country. 

Mr.  Doolittle  speaks  as  he  contracts,  with 
knowledge  and  with  ability.  Succee/iing  in 
all  his  other  roads,  he  feels  his  strength,  and 
tells  you  that  in  this  he  knows  no  such  word 
as  fail. 

The  Directors,  each  in  turn,  have  enter- 
tained you  with  their  experience  and  opin- 
ions-; yet,  notwithstanding,  the  aforesaid 
speakers  have  covered  all  the  ground  in  the 
argument — surveyed  the  line — completed  ex- 
cavations— furnished  grading — built  bridges 
— ballasted  road — placed  sleepers,  and  laid 
down  rails  (I  was  going  to  say,  done  all  the 
heavy  work) — they  call  upon  me  at  the  last 
hour  as  a  kind  of  accommodation  Train ! 
(Laughter.) 

Now  is  it  fair  to  ask  me  to  speak  on  a 
theme  after  a  dozen  speakers  have  chosen  all 
the  strong  points,  and  exhausted  the  entire 
question,  leaving  me  absolutely  nothing  to 
say? 

What  am  I  to  talk  about  ?  I  can  make  a 
speech  on  any  question  at  two  minutes'  no- 


150  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

tice  ;  but  in  this  case,  name  your  subject,  for 
it  seems  to  be  a  settled  thing  that  I  am  to 
talk  to  you. 

If  I  commence  saying  how  much  I  think  of 
the  West,  how  astonished  I  am  at  its  hercu- 
lean growth,  how  ennobling  is  its  wonderful 
activity,  you  will  call  me  a  politician ;  and 
never  having  voted — nor  taken  sides — nor 
talked  politics,  that  would  be  indeed  too  bad. 
(Laughter.)  N'o  matter,  I  shall  talk  about 
those  western  lands.  I  am  full  of  admiration  at 
the  terrible  energy  that  has  swept  forests  from 
the  Indian's  hunting-ground,  and  built  up 
such  gigantic  cities  over  the  footprints  of  the 
red  man's  moccasin. 

Something  strikes  me  anew  at  every  turn. 
When  I  see  so  many  towns  and  cities  born 
in  a  single  generation,  I  may  need  lose  my- 
self in  amazement  in  reflecting  on  the  fu- 
ture. 

Men  of  the  West,  I  look  upon  you  who 
have  hewn  your  pathway  through  woodlands 
into  populous  cities,  as  the  heroes  of  the 
country. 

You  have  taken  away  not  only  the  larger 
part  of  our  capital,  but  have  also  been  drain- 
ing us  of  our  brains.    Observation  has  pointed 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  151 

out  one  thing — you  have,  in  this  part  of  the 
country,  magnificent  heads,  but  shocking  hats 
— (roars  of  laughter) — rusty-looking  gar- 
ments, but  herculean  frames. 

The  inner,  not  the  outer  man  commands 
your  respect — worth  makes  the  man,  and  he 
who  had  the  moral  courage  to  leave  his  east- 
ern home,  and  with  that  peculiar-shaped  axe 
(which  Talleyrand,  in  New  England,  said  would 
hew  a  nation  out  of  the  western  world),  on 
shoulder,  penetrates  into  the  western  wilder- 
ness, and  with  nothing  but  the  light  of  heaven 
above,  nothing  below  but  the  hum  of  insects, 
the  song  of  birds,  the  chirping  of  squirrels — 
nothing  but  the  denizens  of  the  forest,  and 
the  whistling  of  winds  through  the  branches 
to  cheer  him  on  his  manly  task  ;  the  man 
who,  in  this  hermit  solitude,  strikes  home  his 
axe  into  the  hard  wood,  and  chip  by  chip 
cuts  him  down  a  tree,  the  fall  echoing  and 
reechoing  like  an  avalanche — then  another 
and  another  till  he  has  cleaned  himself  a  farm 
and  built  him  up  a  log  cabin  ;  that  man  whose 
energy  and  industry  chains  him  to  the  soli- 
tary spot  till  other  cabins  spring  up  around, 
and  by  and  by  he  sees  about  him  a  school- 
house,  a  college  and  a  church — I  say,  that  man 


152  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

whose  strength  of  body  and  force  of  mind  re- 
mains digging  in  the  soil  till  the  little  town- 
ship widens  and  embraces  a  city,  and  a  city 
like  Cincinnati  with  its  240,000  citizens — 
yes,  that  man  whose  patience  and  persever- 
ance has  accomplished  all  this  in  his  day  and 
generation,  possesses  all  the  elements  of  the 
hero  !     (Loud  applause.) 

Were  he  a  soldier  he  would  have  crossed 
the  bridge  of  Lodi — or  faced  the  guns  at  Bala- 
klava.  As  a  statesman  he  would  have  been 
a  Chatham  or  a  Metternich — so,  as  the  axe- 
man of  the  backwoods,  he  has  worked  out 
the  destiny  of  his  race.     (Applause.) 

Keeping  the  commandments,  he  is  a 
greater  man  than  Moses — till  he  kills  an 
Egyptian  and  takes  jewels  that  belong  to 
others  ;  and  having  been  faithful  to  one 
wife,  he  is  a  wiser  and  better  man  than 
Solomon.     (Laughter.) 

Can  you  believe  for  a  moment  that  men 
who  have  done  so  much  have  not  the  force  to 
finish  a  railway  ? 

Are  you  tired  ?  (No,  go  on.)  Do  you 
really  wish  me  to  go  on  ?  (Yes.)  On  what  ? 
(On  the  railway.)  Very  well ;  just  ring  the 
bell    when    you    wish    to    shut    off    steam 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM .  153 

(laughter),  for  I  like  this  stump  speaking, 
and  under  the  stimulating  influence  of  your 
enthusiasm,  I  could  run  all  night  without 
getting  off  the  track. 

"Well,  I  am  delighted  with  the  road,  and  I 
am  convinced  that  it  is  one  of  the  roads  ; 
foot  by  foot  we  have  gone  through  New 
York  State — through  Pennsylvania  (which 
the  general  says  was  most  unjustly  abused 
by  Sydney  Smith),  and  so  far  on  our  journey 
through  Ohio,  and  most  gladly  assure  you, 
we  have  found  the  statements  made  by  your 
president  and  Mr.  Doolittle  accurate  in  every 
particular. 

They  have  underrated  its  merits  because 
they  did  not  appreciate  its  value. 

We  have  been  three  weeks  on  the  way, 
through  snow  and  hail  and  muddy  roads, 
with  all  storm  and  no  sunshine  ;  but  to-night 
the  winter  of  our  discontent  is  made  glorious 
summer  by  this  most  enthusiastic  reception  ! 
(Applause.) 

This  crowded — this  cheering  audience 
gives  the  lie  to  the  base  slander  that  there 
was  no  life  along  the  line.  Why,  gentlemen, 
you  cannot  credit  the  calumnies  that  were 
circulated  against  the  railway  on  the  other 


154  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

side  tlie  sea.  'Twas  no  manly  opposition, 
but  the  backhanded  stroke  of  the  Thug. 

One  man  called  it  the  fifth  wheel  of  a 
coach.  (I  intimated  that  it  would  be  useful 
in  case  the  fourth  wheel  wanted  repairing,  and 
that  I  saw  a  fifth  wheel  on  all  the  artillery 
wagons  in  the  Crimea.)     (Laughter.) 

Another  said,  we  might  as  well  build  a 
railway  to  the  moon  !     (Why  not,  if  it  would 

pay?) 

Some  said  there  were  too  many  roads  al- 
ready in  Ohio,  forgetting  that  the  leading 
lines  from  the  West  to  East  passed  directly 
through  the  State.  They  forgot  that  it  was 
in  the  middle — a  toll-gate  for  the  States  on 
both  sides — a  half-way  station. 

They  forgot  that  Ohio,  with  2,350,000 
population,  has  but  2,800  miles  of  railway — 
while  Illinois  has  2,600,  with  only  1,500,000 
inhabitants !  ^ 

Others  testified  that  we  had  no  charter — 
no  survey — no  subscriptions — no  grading — 
no  money  paid  in — nobody  knew  the  direc- 
tors, and  that  everybody  repudiated  .the 
affair  along  the  line.  All  of  which  I  have 
found  unqualified  falsehoods.     (Applause.) 

On  the  contrary,  we  find  a  comparatively 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  155 

level  country — fine  grazing  and  agricultural 
lands — neat  farms — trim  cottages — growing 
villages  and  flourishing  cities — we  find  all 
hands  on  deck — all  wide  awake. 

We  have  had  meetings  like  this  in  village 
after  village,  and  the  Pennsylvanians  already 
have  subscribed  over  $300,000  in  place  of 
the  Crawford  County  Bonds — all  are  for  the 
road — we  have  not  heard  one  dissenting 
voice.  Are  th'ere  any  here  who  wish  to  give 
up  the  ship  ?     (No.) 

Will  you  pay  the  balance  of  your  subscrip- 
tions ?     (Yes,  and  as  much  more.) 

This,  Mr.  Chairman,  does  not  look  like  re- 
pudiation !  and  this  is  the  way  that  we  have 
been  met  from  day  to  day. 

At  Akeon  the  millers  met  us  and  were  pre- 
pared to  enter  into  an  annual  contract  with 
us  take  all  their  flour  over  our  road  to  the 
eastern  market.  They  make  1,500  barrels 
per  day  ! 

The  drovers  wait  upon  us  and  say  that  the 
narrow  gauge  is  not  the  thing  for  cattle — but 
as  water  and  fodder  find  ample  room  in  the 
broad  gauge  car,  they  would  not  only  send 
their  cattle,  but  would  pay  better  prices  to 
get  them  to  market  over  a  road  where  there 


154  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

side  the  sea.  'Twas  no  manly  opposition, 
but  the  backhanded  stroke  of  the  Thug. 

One  man  called  it  the  fifth  wheel  of  a 
coach.  (I  intimated  that  it  would  be  useful 
in  case  the  fourth  wheel  wanted  repairing,  and 
that  I  saw  a  fifth  wheel  on  all  the  artillery 
wagons  in  the  Crimea.)     (Laughter.) 

Another  said,  we  might  as  well  build  a 
railway  to  the  moon  !     (Why  not,  if  it  would 

pay  ?) 

Some  said  there  were  too  many  roads  al- 
ready in  Ohio,  forgetting  that  the  leading 
lines  from  the  West  to  East  passed  directly 
through  the  State.  They  forgot  that  it  was 
in  the  middle — a  toll-gate  for  the  States  on 
both  sides — a  half-way  station. 

They  forgot  that  Ohio,  with  2,350,000 
population,  has  but  2,800  miles  of  railway — 
while  Illinois  has  2,600,  with  only  1,500,000 
inhabitants  ! 

Others  testified  that  we  had  no  charter — 
no  survey — no  subscriptions — no  grading — 
no  money  paid  in — nobody  knew  the  direc- 
tors, and  that  everybody  repudiated  the 
affair  along  the  line.  All  of  which  I  have 
found  unqualified  falsehoods.     (Applause.) 

On  the  contrary,  we  find  a  comparatively 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  155 

level  country — fine  grazing  and  agricultural 
lands — neat  farms — trim  cottages — growing 
villages  and  flourishing  cities — we  find  all 
hands  on  deck — all  wide  awake. 

We  have  had  meetings  like  this  in  village 
after  village,  and  the  Pennsylvanians  already 
have  subscribed  over  $300,000  in  place  of 
the  Crawford  County  Bonds — all  are  for  the 
road — we  have  not  heard  one  dissenting 
voice.  Are  there  any  here  who  wish  to  give 
up  the  ship  ?     (No.) 

Will  you  pay  the  balance  of  your  subscrip- 
tions ?     (Yes,  and  as  much  more.) 

This,  Mr.  Chairman,  does  not  look  like  re- 
pudiation !  and  this  is  the  way  that  we  have 
been  met  from  day  to  day. 

At  Akeon  the  millers  met  us  and  were  pre- 
pared to  enter  into  an  annual  contract  with 
us  take  all  their  flour  over  our  road  to  the 
eastern  market.  They  make  1,500  barrels 
per  day  ! 

The  drovers  wait  upon  us  and  say  that  the 
narrow  gauge  is  not  the  thing  for  cattle — but 
as  water  and  fodder  find  ample  room  in  the 
broad  gauge  car,  they  would  not  only  send 
their  cattle,  but  would  pay  better  prices  to 
get  them  to  market  over  a  ro£^d  where  there 


156  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

were  so  many  pastures  for  feeding.  They 
are  tired  of  sending  cattle  forty-eight  hours 
without  food. 

The  farmers  met  us  and  complained  of  hav- 
ing to  cart  their  butter,  their  cheese,  their 
corn  and  their  fruit,  their  sheep,  their  hogs 
and  their  timber,  all  the  way  to  the  lake  for 
want  of  a  nearer  outlet.  All  indorsed  the 
road. 

The    howling    of    the    malcontents    has 
ceased. 

"  Who  is  dead?"  asked  a  gentleman  of  a 
chapter  and  verse  Hibernian. 

''  I  don't  know,"  said  Paddy,  "  but  sup- 
pose it  is  the  gentleman  in  the  cof&n !" 
(Loud  laughter.) 

There  I  think  is  where  you  will  find  the 
opposition. 

Shall  I  continue  ?  (Yes.)  But  there  are 
other  speakers  to  entertain  you.  There  is 
Bob  Schenck,  the  eight-year  M.  0. — the 
Minister  to  Brazil — who  I  heard  compli- 
mented at  Melbourne,  Australia,  by  Sir 
Charles  Hotham,  when  envoy  to  Brazil.  At 
that  time  I  did  not  expect  to  met  him  in  the 
West. 

There  is  Sherman,  your  member  of  Con 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  15  T 

gress,  whom  I  last  saw  at  the  dinner  given  at 
"Washington  last  winter,  to  the  poet  editor 
Mackay. 

Those  men  are  born  speakers,  and  I  am 
already  crowding  them  for  time.  (No,  no, 
go  on  ;  tell  us  more  about  the  railway.) 

All  right — consider  me  yours  for  ten 
minutes  more,  and  when  I  get  too  fast  put 
on  the  brakes.     (Laughter.) 

I  am  only  surprised  that  the  road  was  not 
finished  years  ago — for  look  at  the  map  and 
you  must  admit  that  the  Atlantic  and  Great 
Western  is  the  Grand  Trunk  Line — others 
are  but  branches.  This  is  the  backbone — the 
other  lines  are  but  ribs.  "We  seem  to  hold 
all  the  trumps  and  all  the  honors. 

Let  me  show  you  some  strong  points  in  its 
favor.  The  Lake  Shore  stock  is  quoted  at 
$130,  and  bonds  cannot  be  bought.  The  road 
has  never  paid  less  than  20  per  cent,  (in  one 
instance  it  touched  fifty). 

Now  does  it  not  stand  to  reason  that  if 
that  road  shows  20  per  cent.,  a  line  built 
directly  alongside,  by  dividing  the  traffic  un- 
der same  tariff  of  prices,  would  pay  10  per 
cent.,  and  ten  per  cent,  is  not  a  bad  invest- 
ment. 


158  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

That  line,  you  are  aware,  has  nothing  but 
the  lake  on  one  side,  and  passing  through  a 
sparse  population,  naturally  little  local  traffic  ; 
yet  observe  the  dividend. 

What,  then,  is  a  road  likely  to  pay  thirty 
or  forty  miles  south  of  the  shore,  where  the 
population  on  the  line  is  equal  to  that  of 
'New  Hampshire  and  Vermont,  which  States 
have  1,100  miles  of  railway,  while  you  have 
not  a  single  rail? 

Again,  passengers  prefer  the  broad  gauge. 
The  cars  are  wider — the  motion  more  agree- 
able. Besides,  you  can  move  five  miles  an 
hour  faster  with  less  danger,  thereby  reduc- 
ing the  already  most  direct  route  from  the 
Hudson  to  the  Mississippi  200  miles. 

Traffic  moves  East  and  West — not  North 
and  South. 

Passengers  go  from  Atlantic  towards 
Pacific.  Westward  moves  the  star  of  em- 
pire, ever  westward. 

Complete  this  middle  link,  and  you  have 
a  grand  national  broad  gauge  road  from  the 
Liverpool  of  the  East,  New  York,  to  the  Lon- 
don of  the  West,  St.  Louis,  twelve  hundred 
miles,  making  the  largest  railway  in  the  world ! 

Arrangements    will    be    made    with    the 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  159 

North  Atlantic  Packet  Line  to  book  freight 
and  passengers  from  Continental  Europe  and 
Great  Britain  direct  to  St.  Louis.  When  the 
ships  arrive  at  Jersey  City,  the  New  York  and 
Erie  cars  pass  them  on  to  the  Atlantic  and 
Great  Western,  when  the  Hamilton  and  Day- 
ton take  them  to  Cincinnati,  where  the  Ohio 
and  Mississippi  are  ready  to  deposit  them  in 
St.  Louis.  Onward  still  they  move  !  Already 
180  miles  of  the  Pacific  road  are  completed 
west  of  St.  Louis,  and  later  on,  under  the 
rapid  march  of  American  energy,  it  will 
touch  the  Western  Ocean ! 

Then  comes  consolidation  of  companies — 
till  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  road  bridges  a 
continent.  The  most  gigantic  enterprise  on 
the  face  of  the  globe  !     (Loud  applause.) 

But  come  back  to  our  argument. 

Suppose  a  New  Yorker  is  bound  to  Mis- 
souri. Trace  him  up  the  Hudson — change 
cars  for  ferry-boat,  then  take  cars  for  Buffalo. 
Just  as  you  are  comfortably  seated,  change 
cars  for  Cleveland  ! — out  you  pack  again, 
with  shawls  and  carpet-bags — change  cars 
for  Cincinnati ! — arrived  there,  wife  and 
babies  (if  you  are  so  fortunate  as  to  possess 
those  Christmas  presents  of  a  family  man), 


16(>  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

must  be  again  trotted  down  with — change 
cars  for  St.  Louis  !     (Laughter.) 

Now  I  ask  of  you,  who  would  hesitate  for 
a  moment  as  to  route  ? 

Will  you  go  round  about,  ever  changing, 
or  take  the  lightning  train  ? 

The  forty-hour  express — the  broad  gauge 
line,  where  you  need  not  take  your  shawl  or 
carpet-bag  from  the  seat  you  took  at  New 
York,  till  you  arrive  at  St.  Louis. 

Of  course,  eastward  passengers  bound 
West,  or  western  people  going  East,  will 
naturally  choose  that  route  which  gives  the 
greatest  speed  with  the  most  comfort  for  the 
least  money. 

Are  the  northern  and  southern  lines  afraid 
of  competition  ? 

Buy  a  trunk?  said  the  merchant  to  the 
emigrant.   What  for  ?  asked  Pat. 

"  To  put  your  clothes  in." 

•'To  put  me  clothes  in — what,"  said  he, 
and  go  nake-ed  !"     (Laughter.) 

Do  the  other- companies  fear  that,  now  the 
Grand  Trunk  is  to  be  finished,  that  they  will 
go  nake-ed  !     (Loud  laughter.) 

No — there  is  room  for  all — live  and  let  live, 
Fair  play — that  is  the  policy  of  manliness. 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  161 

We  have  never  decried  our  neighbor's  pro- 
ject to  bolster  up  our  own ;  such  niggardly- 
conduct  is  unworthy  and  debasing.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Our  road  stands  on  its  sterling  merits. 

How  long  have  I  been  on  my  legs  ?  My 
best  arguments  are  still  behind.  (Gro  on,  it's 
only  ten  o'clock.) 

I  was  showing  how  the  broad  gauge  would 
catch  the  passengers.  How  much  more  so 
would  it  control  the  freight  ? 

Break  of  gauge  reduces  capacity  of  road. 

Continued  changes  increase  cost ;  price  de- 
cides freight ;  no  change  reduces  rate.  .Be- 
sides, shippers  would  pay  more  when  satisfied 
that  their  goods  will  not  be  knocked  from  car 
to  car — so  often  broken  in  the  transit. 

Freight  and  passengers  passing  East  or 
"West  feed  our  road.  For,  as  a  leading  iron 
master  said  to  me  in  London  :  *'  Your  road 
is  the  neck  of  the  bottle." 

"Yes,"  said  I,  "like  the  funnel  of  a  tun- 
nel— without  a  tunnel,  a  long  bridge  or 
heavy  embankment. 

We  take  the  tolls  ;  like  the  throat  of  a 
man,  we  can  tax  all  that  passes  our  way  ! 

Take  your  map,  and  see  if  this  road  will 


162  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

not  catch  much  of  the  European  imports  to 
St.  Louis,  via  New  Orleans. 

Cost  and  speed  will  rule  it — a  straight  line 
will  overshadow  a  triangular  route. 

It's  an  important  connection  for  New 
York. 

The  Erie  was  opened  by  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  amid  gun-firing,  band- 
playing,  and  speech-making,  so  national  was 
the  feeling.  How  much  more  national  is  it 
to  finish  the  enterprise. 

De  Witt  Clinton  surveyed  the  route  thirty 
years  ago  :  read  his  report.  Look  again  at 
the  map.  No  wonder  the  New  York  and 
Erie  and  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Companies  are 
so  anxious  to  see  our  road  completed,  for  the 
connection  is  of  vital  import  to  both  those 
roads. 

Their  stockholders  and  bondholders  should 
be  made  aware  of  the  life  that  this  middle 
link  will  throw  into  those  high  costing  opera- 
tions. The  New  York  and  Erie  saw  its  im- 
portance at  the  start,  and  contracted  to  give 
the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  ten  per 
cent,  of  gross  receipts,  both  ways,  for  five 
years. 

The  Broadway  omnibuses  usually  pass  the 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  163 

New  York  Hotel  full,  so  our  road,  commenc- 
ing at  New  York,  or  St.  Louis,  picks  up  pas- 
sengers on  the  route,  and  crosses  our  road 
with  full  cars.     The  same  applies  to  freight. 

Passengers  pay  best  because  they  load  and 
unload  themselves. 

Through  traffic  requires  less  handling, 
hence  decreased  expenses  and  increased  divi- 
dends. 

We  shall  try  and  make  net  receipts,  not 
gross. 

We  did  not  come  over  to  build  your  road 
on  principles  of  benevolence  and  charity,  but 
to  make  as  much  money  as  possible  out  of 
you  in  the  shortest  possible  time.  Our  con- 
tracts represent  bonds,  not  stock,  yet  bonds 
should  be  optionally  convertible,  as  20  per 
cent,  is  better  than  7  per  cent. 

We  are  glad  to  find  most  of  the  heavy  grad- 
ing done  ;  nature  has  built  the  road — like  the 
Illinois  Central,  in  some  cases  you  can  lay 
down  your  rails  on  top  of  the  grass.  (Laugh- 
ter.) 

Our  contracts  were  too  binding  to  be 
broken  by  a  breath  of  editorial  wind,  or  bank- 
ing-house envy.  McHenry  made  his  arrange- 
ments with  Salafnanca,  two  of  the  ablest  men 


164  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

in  Europe.  Two  cargoes  of  iron  are  already 
in  New  York,  and  two  installments  of  money 
are  here,  and  I  have  bills  of  lading  in  my 
pocket  of  five  more  cargoes  on  the  way.  This 
warm  indorsement  of  your  Directors  was  not 
needed,  yet  such  unanimous  sentiments  of 
earnestness  ever  insure  success. 

Associations  make  presidents,  build  rail- 
ways, and  create  nations.  'Tis  nature's  law. 
Trees  grow  in  forests  ;  birds  go  in  flocks  ; 
animals  in  herds  ;  fish  in  shoals  ;  insects  in 
swarms  ;  so  men,  each  working  in  concert, 
accomplish  great  results.  Shoulder  to  shoul- 
der, you  could  have  built  your  road  without 
a  penny  from  abroad  ;  a  short  pull,  a  long 
pull,  and  a  pull  altogether  would  have  done 
it.  'Tis  the  steady  tramp  of  regiments  that 
bears  down  the  bridge.  'Twas  the  steel 
square  of  WelHngton  that  made  England's 
glory.  But  I  for  one  am  glad  you  came 
abroad  for  assistance.  If  you  are  satisfied  in 
taking  the  money  and  iron,  so  are  the  capi- 
talists of  England  France  and  Spain  in  fur- 
nishing it. 

I  am  satisfied  the  road  must  pay. 

"  Are  you  the  mate,"  asked  a  passenger  of 
the  cook. 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  165 

"  No,  sir-r !  I  am  the  man  what  cooks  the 
mate,"  was  the  prompt  reply.     (Laughter.) 

There's  plenty  of  mate  in  the  colonel  of  our 
road. 

In  roaming  through  all  the  hemispheres,  I 
have  seen  the  ploughshares  in  the  field,  but 
have  yet  to  find  land  that  equals  the  natural 
wealth  of  this  nation's  soil. 

Nature's  banks  never  refuse  to  answer  to 
their  deposits — they  pay  compound  interest 
every  crop. 

Way-worn,  and  body-worn,  and  carriage- 
worn,  with  more  words  shed  than  ink  shed, 
we  have  made  our  way  over  the  road,  look- 
ing at  your  strange  seven-rail  fences  ;  your 
ornamental  stump  hedges,  as  peculiar  as  your 
stump  orators  ;  your  log-cabins,  as  national 
as  your  log-rolling,  till  we  have  been  con- 
vinced that  your  political  ironical  railings,  will 
soon  be  changed  into  a  practical  iron  railway. 
(Laughter.) 

Some  giant  flood  must  have  covered  this 
land.  No  little  affair  like  that  Araratian 
deluge,  which  cut  through  the  Dardanelles 
and  Bosphorus,  lowering  the  Caspian  and 
Black  Seas,  and  raising  the  Mediterranean, 
but   some    hemispherical   upheaving   of  the 


166  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

waters — one  wave  making  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, and  another  the  Alleghanies,  giving  a 
thousand  miles  of  Mississippian  Yalley  to 
raise  corn  for  all  the  world.  A  portion  of 
the  water  passed  down  the  great  river  to  the 
Mexican  gulf  The  balance,  after  filling  up 
the  lakes,  went  to  the  Atlantic  via  the  St. 
Lawrence. 

Lake  Erie  was  concaved  to  convex  the  land 
in  Ohio.  Hence  this  wonderful  plateau,  ex- 
pressly made  for  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Wes- 
tern Railway.     (Loud  applause.) 


» > » 


Remarks  to  the   Scholars  of  the  High   School,  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  December,  1858. 

The  first  inquiry  I  made  on  arriving  in 
your  city  this  morning,  was  in  regard  to  your 
(I)ommon  School  system,  and  I  am  under 
many  obligations  to  the  kind  friends  who  have 
so  promptly  brought  me  here. 

There  is  a  charm  about  the  school-house 
that  manhood's  associations  cannot  shake 
away.     Schoolboy  impressions  are  lasting. 

Life's  storms  seldom  sever  acquaintances 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  167 

formed  and  friendships  made  during  those 
happy  years. 

I  love  my  schoolday  memories,  and  having 
looked  in  upon  the  scholars  of  Asia,  of  Aus- 
tralia, of  Africa  and  of  Europe,  I  was  curi- 
ous to  see  the  school  system  of  the  West. 

Your  Superintendent  asks  me  to  address 
you — most  gladly  I  answer  to  the  call ;  but 
what  am  I  to  say  ? 

Like  yourselves,  I  am  still  a  scholar,  but  a 
few  years  your  senior,  and  to  tell  you  that  I 
would  be  more  studious  had  I  again  the 
chance,  would  be  simply  reechoing  what  all 
say  who  have  passed  the  Rubicon  of  youth. 
Were  you  to  ask  my  advice,  it  would  be 
study — study,  and  study  hard. 

You  should  play  hard  when  you  play, 
which  expands  the  physical  frame,  so  that  you 
may  study  hard  when  you  study,  to  expand 
the  mental. 

The  galvanic  battery  in  the  stomach  re- 
sponds to  the  electric-telegraph  in  the  brain. 
Physical  exercise  is  essential  to  mental 
strength. 

No  more  absurd  idea  can  be  promulgated 
than,  that  a  child  will  injure  itself  by  study. 
Never  fear.     The  case  is  a  rare  one  where  a 


168  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

delicate  body  is  broken  by  an  active  mind — 
nature  takes  care  of  that. 

If  the  mind  gives  way,  'tis  because  the  body 
has  been  idle.  Both  must  be  active  to  give 
each  force. 

Therefore,  by  all  means  study,  and  study 
as  though  you  meant  it — whatever  you  do, 
follow  the  advice  of  Sheridan  Knowles  in  your 
school-books. — Be  in  earnest. 

Your  teacher  apologizes  for  your  voices  not 
reaching  across  the  room.  There  is  no  ex- 
cuse for  it ;  were  it  recess  your  laugh  could 
be  even  heard  on  the  other  side  the  square. 
Then  you  are  in  earnest. 

Why  don't  you  read  with  the  same  en- 
thusiasm ? 

All  the  world  are  not  interested — yet  you 
hesitate  as  if  the  nations  depended  on  the 
trial. 

Boys,  when  you  snow-ball  you  enjoy  it. 
You  try  to  hit  and  get  warm  in  the  play. 
Why  don't  you  read  with  the  same  life  ? 

When  you  kick  foot-ball,  you  show  force — 
when  you  play  base,  you  bat  with  energy — 
when  you  run,  you  do  it  with  a  will — when 
you  jump — no  matter  what  your  play — you 
act  as  if  in  earnest. 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  169 

Why  not  recite  your  lessons  that  way  ? 
Reflect  on  what  I  tell  you  ;  let  these  words 
be  ever  in  your  mind — Be  in  earnest. 

Those  young  girls  show  more  enthusiasm 
when  they  buy  a  bonnet.  They  lay.  down 
the  law  with  their  little  hands  to  the  mil- 
liners as  if  their  future  happiness  depended 
on  the  purchase.  The  ribbons  must  be  ar- 
ranged so — the  flowers  in  this  manner — the 
laces  in  that — and  by  four  o'clock  they  must 
have  it  sent  home.     Then  they  are  in  earnest. 

You  should  display  similar  action  with 
your  school-books.  Your  grammar  lesson 
should  claim  equal  attention  ;  you  should  be 
in  earnest. 

There  is  one  thing  I  have  noticed  in 
talking  with  mankind.  Every  scholar  feels, 
at  some  period  of  his  youth,  an  intuitive 
knowledge  of  power  over  his  neighbor — some 
instinctive  feeling  of  strength — some  internal 
consciousness  of  doing  something  better  than 
his  school-fellow.  It  may  be  physical  supe- 
riority, it  maybe  mental — poetry,  perhaps, 
or  music  ;  it  may  be  history  or  mathematics 
— no  matter  what  the  faculty,  'tis  a  strange 
thing  that  father  and  mother  cannot  see  it  ; 
brothers  and  sisters,  uncles  and  aunts,  cousins, 

8 


y 


170  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

school-mates,  no  immediate  relative  or  friend 
detects  any  virtue  in  the  genius — the  talent, 
force,  whatever  it  may  be  ;  on  the  contrary, 
these  kind  jailers  of  our  actions  strive  to 
crush  out  the  spark,  for  fear  of  ridicule,  or 
some  other  motive,  thereby  often  blasting 
the  ambition  as  with  a  mildew. 

Stop  that  piano — don't  laugh  so  loud — 
cease  that  singing.  You  cannot  write 
poetry.  Don't  make  a  fool  of  yourself. 
Everybody  is  laughing  at  you.  This  is  the 
usual  encouragement  for  enthusiasm,  and 
genius  often  tries  in  vain  to  struggle  through 
the  net- work. 

Scholars,  if  any  of  you  have  been  thrown 
off  the  track  by  advice,  go  back  again. 
Don't  give  it  up.  'Tis  the  strong  point  of 
your  life.  If  based  on  a  moral  platform, 
it  will  lift  you  to  your  proper  mark. 

Think  well  of  yourselves.  'Tis  the  way  to 
command  respect.  If  you  assume  too  much 
you  will  find  your  level.  Water  will  not 
run  up  hill.  Holmes  says,  that  when  jou 
drive  your  wagon  of  potatoes  in  a  spring- 
cart  over  a  rough  road,  he  observes  that  the 
small  potatoes  always  go  to  the  bottom. 
Small  logs  get  under  large  ones  in  the  pond. 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  171 

Large  stones  work  through  the  smaller  ones 
to  the  surface  on  the  swampy  highway. 

Strike  high.  Know  yourself,  and  always 
be  in  earnest.     Look  upward. 

On  a  long  range  the  hunter  aims  above 
the  mark  to  hit  it. 

To  get  ten  thousand  dollars  for  your  house 
you  ask  twelve,  else  they  wish  to  buy  for 
eight.  Make  your  mark  high.  There  is 
nothing  like  a  noble  ambition. 

Your  friends,  in  showing  3^ou  your  weak 
points,  are  oblivious  to  your  strong  points. 

The  black  sheep  is  always  seen  in  the 
flock.  If  the  coffee  is  cold,  no  matter  how 
hearty  the  breakfast,  you  don't  like  the  hotel. 

When  three  thousand  people  have  cheered 
you,  some  friend  will  kindly  inform  you  that 
he  heard  some  say  that  you  had  made  a  fool 
of  yourself. 

' '  I  saw  '  derisive  cheers  '  marked  against 
your  speech,"  said  a  friend. 

"Yes,"  I  observed,  "but  they  were 
cheers,  weren't  they  ?" 

Make  up  your  mind  what  you  intend  to 
do  and  do  it.     Never  fail  to  try. 

Hold  on — don't  give  up. 


172  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

"  Stick  to  your  aim — the  mongrel's  liold  will  slip, 
But  only  crowbars  loose  the  bulldog's  grip; 
Small  as  he  looks,  the  jaw  that  never  yields, 
Drags  down  tlie  bellowing  monarch  of  the  fields." 

Perseverance  and  will  must  accomplish. 

Look  at  the  mountains,  your  ideas  become 
enlarged — mole  hills  lessen  your  conceptions. 

If  you  gaze  on  shrubs,  your  ideas  become 
shrubby.  But  look  at  oaks  and  your  ideas 
become  oaky. 

Step  by  step,  thought  by  thought,  you 
can  gain  the  prize.  Study,  and  do  it  as  ear- 
nestly as  you  eat. 

"  The  giant  pyramids  of  stone 

That  wedge-like  cut  tlie  desert  airs, 
"When  nearer  seen  and  better  known 

Are  but  gigantic  pairs  of  stairs. 
The  distant  mountains  that  uprear 

Their  solid  bastions  to  tlie  skies. 
Are  crossed  by  footpaths  tliat  appear 

When  we  to  higher  levels  rise. 
The  heights  which  great  men  reached  and  kept, 

Were  not  attained  by  sudden  flight, 
But  they,  while  their  companions  slept, 

Were  toiling  upward  in  the  night." 

I  have  great  faith  in  your  learning  the 
simple  branches  before  going  beyond  your 
depth  in  metaphysics. 

I  would  have  a  scholar  read  well,  and  spell 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  173 

well,  understand  the  English  grammar,  geo- 
graphy, history,  writing.  I  would  have  these 
studies  well  grounded  in  the  mind,  before 
taxing  the  brain  with  the  higher  flights  of 
mathematics  and  the  dead  languages  ;  such 
studies  are  comparatively  useless  to  the  ma- 
jority of  minds. 

This  studying  Latin  ten  years,  as  a  key  to 
languages,  or  to  discipline  the  mind,  has  be- 
come irksome.  Our  age  is  too  practical  for 
such  nonsense.  Nine  out  of  ten  get  nause- 
ated, and  the  memory  throws  it  overboard 
without  a  pang. 

French,  Spanish,  German,  are  useful,  and 
the  mind's  discipline  is  equally  strong. 

No  man  can  quote  Latin  in  society  without 
being  called  pedantic  ;  and  I  assure  you,  I 
have  never  seen  it  in  my  travels,  except  on 
apothecaries'  bottles.  It  is  time  to  change 
the  theoretical  stage-coach  style  of  education 
for  the  steam-engine  practicability  of  the  age. 

We  dwell  in  the  past  as  though  our  day 
was  unworthy  of  its  birth. 

Caesar,  with  his  bow  and  arrow,  is  distorted 
into  a  greater  man  than  Scott  with  his  mini4 
rifle. 

Demosthenes  deserves  credit  for  trying  to 


174  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

clear  his  throat  with  pebbles,  but  I  hope  that 
none  will  compliment  joii  or  me  by  saying 
that  we  have  adopted  his  model. 

These  stock  heroes  have  grown  from  Ro- 
man paving-stones  into  Bunker  Hill  monu- 
ments. 

When  in  our  day  we  see  a  senator's  speech 
trimmed  up,  revised,  corrected  for  the 
papers,  and  then  rearranged  a  generation 
later  to  suit  the  times,  and  before  the  genera- 
tion is  dead,  changed  perhaps  again,  one  can 
but  have  fears  that  very  little  of  the  original 
remains  in  orations  almost  two  thousand  years 
of  age. 

Know  yourself — therein  is  power. 

Scholars,  I  am  glad  I  know  you. 

I  wish  I  knew  you  better,  and  that  you 
knew  me  better.  I  should  lik6  to  play  with 
you  when  you  play,  and  study  with  you  when 
you  study.  I  would  arouse  you  from  idle- 
ness, and  make  you  work. 

I  would  appeal  to  your  ambition. 

There  may  be  some  future  President  sit- 
ting on  these  benches — some  large-brained 
boy — who  only  needs  commendation  to  light 
the  embers  of  his  mind. 

Young  Americans  ;  you  by  and  by  will  be 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  175 

the  city  fathers — the  rulers  of  the  State  ; 
make  yourselves  worthy  of  the  chance. 

There  may  be  here  the  mother  of  a  "Wash- 
ington, a  Napoleon,  a  Pitt. 

'Tis  the  mothers  that  make  the  men. 

Xow  is  the  hour  for  improvement — know- 
ledge is  power — do  not  waste  the  moments. 

Read  !     Reflect !     Remember  ! 

Keep  your  ears — your  eyes  open  ;  notice 
all  that  passes,  and  strive  to  excel. 

Little  by  little  you  can  accomplish  any- 
thing. 

The  dropping  of  water  drills  the  hardest 
stone. 

Where  there's  a  will  there's  a  way. 

Little  by  little  you  have  built  up  this  beau- 
tiful city,  little  by  little  you  have  perfected 
your  common  school  system. 


"  Little  ly  little^  an  acorn  said, 
As  it  slowly  sank  in  its  mossy  bed, 
I'm  improving  every  day — 
Deep  hidden  in  the  earth  avpay. 
Little  by  little  it  sipped  the  dew — 
Little  hy  little  each  day  it  grew ; 
Downward  it  sent  out  a  tiny  root. 
Upward  there  sprang  a  threadbare  shoot. 
Day  by  day,  and  year  by  year, 
LittU  ly  little  the  leaves  appear, 


176  SPREAD-EAGLEISM. 

And  the  slender  trunk  spreads  far  and  wide, 
Till  the  giant  oak  is  the  forest's  pride. 

"  Far  down  in  the  depths  of  the  deep  blue  sea, 
An  insect  train  works  ceaselessly ; 
Grain  by  grain  it  is  building  well — 
Each  one  alone  in  its  little  cell. 
Moment  by  moment,  and  day  by  day, 
Never  stopping  to  rest  or  to  play, 
Rocks  upon  rocks  it  is  mounting  high. 
Till  tlie  top  looks  out  on  the  sunny  sky ; 
And  tlie  gentle  wind  and  the  balmy  air, 
Little  by  little  bring  verdure  there, 
Till  the  summer  sunbeams  gaily  smile 
On  the  buds  and  flowers  of  the  coral  Isle. 

"Little  by  little,  said  a  thoughtful  boy. 
Moment  by  moment  I'll  well  employ. 
Learning  a  little  every  day. 
And  not  spending  all  my  time  in  play. 
While  in  mind  this  truth  shall  dwell — 
Whate'er  I  do,  I'll  do  it  well ; 
Little  by  little  I'll  strive  to  know 
The  treasured  knowledge  of  long  ago, 
And  one  of  these  days,  perhaps,  will  see 
The  world  is  all  the  letter  for  rae?'' 

Choose  your  path,  and  keep  to  it. 

I  would  rather  be  that  Excelsior  boy  dying 
in  the  snow,  than  not  to  have  made  the  trial. 

I  shall  long  remember  my  visit  to  the 
schools  of  Ohio,  and  shall  feel  deeply  glad 
should  some  among  you  remember  me  in  re- 
turn.    In  thanking  you  for  permitting  me  to 


SPREAD-EAGLEISM.  177 

talk  to  you,  wishing  you  a  thousand  kind 
presents  for  the  holidays,  I  must  again  exhort 
you  to  he  in  earnest. 

Love  truth — ^love  virtue — ^love  God,   and 
be  happy. 


THE    END. 


